138 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



like others, is much more palatable when killed in the interior 

 than when taken on the sea-coast. In February the males 

 begin their mating antics, when they have a habit of stretch- 

 ing forth the neck and erecting the glossy feathers of the 

 head as it is moved back and forth, so as to display their 

 beauties to the best advantage in the sunlight. They are 

 quite quarrelsome in the mating season and fight furiously 

 for the possession of favored females. 



Nuttall says that the Buffle-head feeds principally upon 

 fresh-water and submerged vegetation, and that it sometimes 

 visits the salt marshes "in quest of the laver (Ulva lactuca)," 

 as well as Crustacea and small shell-fish. Audubon states 

 that it feeds on shrimps, small fry and bivalves in salt water, 

 and on crayfish, leeches, snails and grasses in fresh water. 

 Dr. Warren found small shells and coleopterous insects in 

 stomachs of this species. Knight says that it eats young 

 chubs, shiners and other small fish. It also takes locusts, 

 grasshoppers and many other insects. 



When it is considered that the minnows on which the 

 Buffle-head feeds to a considerable extent eat the eggs of 

 trout and other food fishes, it seems probable that it is a 

 useful bird, and certainly it is a very interesting one. Its 

 diminution on the Atlantic sea-board has been deplorably 

 rapid. In 1870 Samuels regarded it as a "very common 

 and well known bird" in New England and abundant in 

 migration. At its present rate of decrease, another century 

 will see its extinction as surely as the last century saw that 

 of the Great Auk and the Labrador Duck. Its rate of decrease 

 should be watched, and, if necessary, a close season should be 

 declared for several years in every State and province where 

 it breeds or which it visits in its annual migrations. It is 

 unsafe to procrastinate in matters of this kind. 



