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THE OOLOGIST. 



always going from high water side. 

 Careful observations have served to 

 fully confirm this, and I have found 

 that the first stragglers began to pass a 

 given point midway between "the Bay" 

 and "the Sound" at about "half tide" 

 and from that time until 'dead low 

 water" a steady stream of singles, pairs 

 and flocks of Scoters would pass in one 

 direction, viz toward low water. The 

 height at which these birds fly is very 

 variable. With a very high wind they 

 seldom fly more than sixty feet above 

 the water, but in a calm or with very 

 light wind, the distance of the flights 

 from the water is very variable. The 

 flight is strong, steady, and at times 

 very rapid. The maximum speed that 

 they are capable of making under 

 favorable conditions, viz, a heavy and 

 favorable wind, I should judge to be 

 about one hundred miles an hour, al- 

 though this may be a trifle high. At 

 any rate they do not fly as rapidly as 

 some of the other ducks, as for instance 

 the Canvas-back [Aythya rallisneria) |or 

 Old-squaw {Glaugula hyemalia). It is a 

 very interesting sight to watch them 

 feeding, as they swim about by thous- 

 ands over the "beds" above mentioned. 

 I have sat upon a neighboring bluff 

 with my binocular for hours and 

 watched the ever changing kaleide- 

 scopic panorama, as first one and then 

 another disappears under the surface 

 to reappear in a short time with one of 

 the "muscles," which they swallow 

 whole without cracking the shell in 

 any manner. The walls of the stomach 

 of these birds are of extraordinary 

 thickness and the shells are ground up 

 into very minute particles before pass- 

 ing into the intestines. 



The manner in which these birds de- 

 tatch the mollusks from the beds has 

 been the subject of some conjecture by 

 observers in the past. I am of the 

 opinion that both the bill and feet are 

 used in this process, for the following 

 Tsason: I have seen the birds (while 



watching them through the glass) come 

 to the surface with the "muscle" in the 

 bill and swallow it almost immediately 

 afcer; I have also observed them come 

 to the surface with nothing in the bill 

 and after a moment's rest dio the bill 

 and head under water and get a "mus- 

 cle" from somewhere and quickly 

 swallow it. In the latter case the bird 

 must have come to the surface with the 

 moUusk in its feet. I can not state 

 whether the birds ever swallow the 

 food under water, but as they are 

 capable of remaining under water for a 

 great length of time, I would suppose 

 that at times they did swallow it before 

 coming to the surface. This must be 

 the exception however. 



The Scoter begins to arrive in this 

 locality about the 1st to the 10th of 

 November. The Spring migration 

 toward the North begins about the 

 middle of March, but is not complete 

 until late in May, wnen the heaviest 

 flight takes place. At this time the 

 birds congregate in great flocks and 

 move toward the breeding grounds 

 which may be roughly stated as extend- 

 ing from as far north as Labrador and 

 as far south aa the Devil's Lake region 

 of N. Dakota (see "Auk," April 1902.) 

 The Scoter is a very late breeder, most 

 of the eggs being deposited in the latter 

 part of June, although Audubon found 

 them breeding in Labrador as early as 

 the 1st. The eggs vary in shading from 

 green to pale buS, and seven 's the 

 largest number I have personally seen 

 in one set, although sets of twelve and 

 fourteen are reported. An interesting 

 fact about the nesting habits of this 

 bird is, that its eggs have been found 

 in the nests of other birds, viz, in those 

 of the Baldpate and Lesser Scaup Duck. 

 ("Auk," April 1902, p. 171. 



