BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR GAME. 145 



Range. — Northern North America and eastern Asia. Breeds in Alaska, on 

 Arctic coast, Newfoundland, northeastern Asia, Greenland and Ice- 

 land, and south in the mountains to central California and Colorado; 

 winters on Pacific coast from the Aleutian Islands to California, in the 

 interior to Colorado and western New York, and on Atlantic coast from 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence regularly to Maine, rarely to New Jersey and 

 accidentally to Florida; accidental in Europe. 



History. 



The Harlequin Duck was formerly more common on the 

 coast of New England than it is to-day. It formerly was 

 noted as a summer resident on the coast of Maine, and this 

 may have been authentic, as I found it in flocks in 1889 on 

 Puget Sound in the height of the breeding season, in nearly 

 the same latitude as the coast of Maine and in a milder 

 climate. It is now a rare visitor to Massachusetts in early 

 winter, and even in Maine it is considered uncommon. 

 Knight says that the days of this little Duck are fast pass- 

 ing, and that it is likely soon to be shelved with other species 

 as "formerly occurring along our coast." He states that it 

 was once common on the Maine coast from November imtil 

 April, but now occurs only in the extreme winter months 

 along the outer islands, and that it seems very likely that 

 two hundred would be a liberal estimate of those which now 

 visit the entire Maine coast in winter. ^ Dr. Brewer states 

 that specimens were occasionally seen in the Boston markets, 

 but that after 1840 it became comparatively rare. 



All the adult male specimens that I have seen taken in 

 New England had only a stripe of white on the scapulars and 

 no large patch of white there, and as this seems to be the 

 common winter plumage here, the male is thus figured. I 

 always have regarded the Harlequin as second only to the 

 Wood Duck in beauty. On one occasion a small flock of 

 these elegant birds visited my lonely camp on a little harbor 

 of a small island near the Strait of Fuca, at the entrance of 

 Puget Sound. I sat motionless on the shore until they came 

 almost to my feet, playing about like children at tag, or 

 dressing their plumage, entirely at ease, like so many domesti- 



• Knight, Ora W.: Birds of Maine, 1908, pp. 105, 106. 



