402 FEATHERED GAME 
be known by the white speculum. Young birds 
are of a dull grayish cast. 
The White-wing inhabits both coasts of North 
America, the larger inland lakes, and is also 
represented in the Old World by a species very 
close to our own bird. 
They breed through the interior from the 
northern States of the Union northward into 
the Arctic regions, and along both coasts of 
North America north from the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence in the east and from British Columbia in 
the west, by far the greater number going well 
beyond civilization. They make a large nest, 
usually placed at the edge of some body of 
fresh water, line it with down from their own 
bodies, and in it lay from six to eight eggs. 
They often breed far inland and a long way. 
from salt water. Though every season a good 
sized flock summers among the outer islands of 
Casco Bay there is no evidence of their breeding 
there, and they are probably the crippled birds 
left behind by the spring flight, unable to con- 
tinue their journey at the time and so unmated. 
Apparently slow and heavy, when once on the 
wing their flight is powerful and often long 
protracted, usually traveling low over the water 
