RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 409 
in our bays and rivers when he can, preferring 
tide-waters and the arms of the sea, but if this 
is not permitted he can do very well ‘‘off shore’’ 
and is one of the most numerous of the winter 
dwellers on our coast. Still, the greater num- 
ber have gone on to warmer climates, and Shell- 
drakes are here in larger numbers during the 
flight seasons than at any other time. 
If in the latter half of April or the first of 
May the gunner turns out before daylight and 
takes his stand upon a lonely ledge or the point 
of some uninhabited island of the sea and puts 
out his wooden decoys in a life-like group within 
good shot reach of the grim-fronted rock be- 
hind which he lies hidden, he is likely to find 
good sport for two or three hours while the 
Shelldrakes are flying in from ‘‘outside’’ where 
they have been asleep on the breast of the At- 
lantic. 
The moon is paling and the stars are losing 
their lustre. The day is coming and across the 
eastern sky a pink light is creeping. The sleepy 
world is rubbing its eyes and making ready for 
its round of toil. The water is yet gray and 
uncertain and the masses of the woods on the 
islands round about are solid and sombre. But 
