142 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



again. It often circles high in the air, apparently in play, 

 and its flight is so erratic that I have seen individuals which 

 were shot in the back when flying high over the shooter. If 

 wounded it will dive deep and swim far, and often under such 

 circumstances one will go to the bottom, seize some object 

 with the bill and hang on until drowned rather than risk 

 capture. Its swift movements, strong buUd, great vitality 

 and thick plumage make it difficult to kill, and it is among 

 the most expert of divers. It disappears so quickly at the 

 flash of a gun that it seems almost impossible to kill one on 

 the water. Gov. W. D. Hoard of Wisconsin assured me that 

 the lake fishermen there take Ducks, presumably of this 

 species, in their fishing nets, at a depth of fifty to one hun- 

 dred feet, and I have heard similar tales told by Atlantic 

 coast fishermen. Eaton in his Birds of New York (page 214) 

 states that this bird is frequently taken in the Great Lakes 

 in gill nets at a depth of fifteen fathoms, and sometimes at 

 twenty-seven fathoms, or one hundred and sixty-two feet. 

 He also quotes the statement that at Dunkirk, N. Y., between 

 five and seven thousand of these birds were thus taken at 

 one haul of a net.^ It is evident that nets are very destruc- 

 tive to this species. People who have been accustomed to 

 regard this as a salt-water bird may be surprised to learn that 

 it resorts in numbers to the lakes in the interior, and breeds 

 about little fresh- water ponds in the arctic regions. Never- 

 theless, the majority of the species spend a large part of their 

 lives on the sea. 



When wintry winds lash the dark water into foam and 

 send it roaring upon our rocky coast, when the shore birds 

 have gone and the Geese have flown, the Old-squaws still ride 

 the waves just outside the breakers. They seem filled with 

 abundant vigor and playfulness. Rising against the wind, 

 they speed away and back again, splashing down into the sea. 

 Their calls and cries are heard particularly at morning and 

 late in the afternoon, when they are often very vociferous. 

 It is hard to imitate these calls by printed words, but they 

 are among the most musical cries uttered by wild-fowl. 



1 See Bacon, Samuel E., Jr. : Ornithologist and Oologist, 1892, Vol. 17, p. 45. 



