THE AMERICAN SCOTER 399 
the struggle for existence, though they have a 
much better chance in that they make us their 
visits at a time when only the ‘‘crankiest’’ of 
gun cranks would think of braving the cold and 
hardships of a shooting trip among the outer 
islands. When a party goes out after ‘‘sea 
ducks’’ they never know when they will be per- 
mitted to return. The exposed position of the 
haunts of their game sometimes makes a return 
to the mainland impossible for days if a storm 
comes up; therefore winter shooting is not so 
much followed. 
The Coots are found in both the New and the 
Old World. 
The Butter-billed Coot, or American Scoter, 
will probably average the smallest of our Coots, 
though but little smaller than the ‘‘ Patch-head.’’ 
In most localities the present species is the 
least common of the three; a lover of ‘‘blue 
water,’’ seldom coming into the narrow arms 
of the sea or tide-water, and only rarely taken 
on the Great Lakes where his cousins, the 
‘*Patch-head’’ and ‘‘ White-winged’’ are not un- 
common. In habits, breeding haunts and range 
of migration the three do not differ materially, 
on the eastern half of the continent the larger 
