GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 429 



taken. — August ist to March ist; otherwise by authority of 

 owner or occupier of land. 



Habits. — Of all the Arctic Ducks none are more thoroughly 



Arctic than the present handsome species. It is late to arrive 



in British waters^ and is seldom seen off even our northern coasts 



before November, later still in the south. It leaves us in April 



and reaches its Arctic haunts with the opening of the northern 



waters. Like most of its congeners it is gregarious in winter, 



but the flocks that frequent our seas are seldom very large ; even 



in summer it is to a certain extent sociable, and numbers of nests 



may be found within a small area of suitable ground. Whilst 



with us it keeps principally to the sea, often wandering long 



distances from land, only approaching the shore during stormy 



weather, when it shows a decided preference for creeks and 



inlets on a wild, rocky coast. It is rarely or never seen on inland 



fresh water during winter, although in summer its favourite 



retreats are the northern lakes, often at some considerable 



distance from the sea. The flight of this Duck is remarkably 



quick and graceful, the long tail making the bird look very 



elegant as it careers along with wings beating the air so rapidly 



as to be almost invisible. It dives with even greater speed, so 



quickly as often to dodge the shot from a modern breech-loader, 



and under water it darts about and goes for long distances like 



a Grebe or an Auk, appearing far out of danger. The note of 



the Long-tailed Duck cannot easily be confused with that of any 



other species. It is a loud, clear cry of several syllables, the 



middle one being the longest and the loudest, rendered by some 



authorities as cow-cow-w-ie, col-goK-y, or cal-loo-00; whilst in some 



parts of Scotland the sportsman has made a free translation of 



it into " coal-an-can'le-licht," The food of this species consists 



of small mollusks, crustaceans, insects, minute marine animals, 



and the buds, roots, and leaves of various water plants and 



weeds. Most of this is obtained whilst the bird is diving. 



Nidification. — The great breeding grounds of the Long- 

 tailed Duck are on the Arctic tundras of the Old World and the 

 barren grounds which extend from beyond the limit of forest 

 growth to the frozen ocean in the New World. Here its haunts 

 are the pools and lakes, often those studded with islands. Odd 



