220 WATER FOWL. 



ponds, and knolls near the water, and the nest is hidden 

 in the dry grass amid which it is placed. The male re- 

 mains near the nesting place until the young are hatched, 

 when he disappears, probably to moult, and the female 

 takes sole charge of the young and shows much courage 

 in their defense, putting herself in the way of danger, 

 and shielding the little ones from harm by every means 

 in her power. By the beginning of September the young 

 are well grown and all have deserted the marshes, and 

 the species is scarce along the coast toward the last of 

 the month. Nelson thinks that on account of its local 

 distribution, and restricted range, it may readily be so 

 reduced in numbers as to become a very rare bird, possi- 

 bly even extinct, like the Great Auk and Labrador 

 Duck. Its breeding range does not exceed four 

 hundred miles of coast line with a width of not over one 

 or two miles, and against the usual opposing natural 

 forces it must contend with, it has, in addition, the 

 natives armed with shotguns. The diminution of 

 Water Fowl in that country, he says, is more marked 

 every season, and this in certain cases can only be the 

 beginning of extinction, and this warfare against the 

 feathered creatures will be increased on account of the 

 growing scarcity of large game. 



ARCTONETTA FISCHERI. 



Geographical Distribution. — Alaskan coast from the Kusko- 

 kwim River to Point Barrow, Behring Sea, Aleutian Islands. 



Adult Male. — Feathers projecting onto the bill, stiflf, plush 

 like, yellowish white, anteriorly grading into sea green on the 

 lores and forehead, this color extending in a narrow line along the 

 crown, and in a rather broad stripe beneath the eye patch, and 

 then broadening out on the thick occipital crest. The green is 

 deepest on lores, on the stripe under the eye and edges of crest, 

 and becomes very pale yellowish green on crown and center of 



