SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



Although the female may remain passive 

 and coyly indifferent to the ardent actions of 

 the male, as is the habit of her sex, she some- 

 times responds by a bobbing which is similar 

 to that of the male, but of considerably less 

 range, and sometimes she emits a single note 

 which is louder than that of her partner but 

 of a different quality and less rasping. The 

 nuptial performance is always at its best when 

 several drakes are displaying their charms of 

 movement, voice and plumage before a single 

 duck, and each vies with the others in the 

 ardor of the courtship. 



I have records of some thirty other different 

 kinds of ducks of this region, but it is possible 

 to speak of only a few and that but briefly. 

 Of these there are three species that go by the 

 name of " coots," and their pursuit is termed 

 '' cooting," although the name coot belongs 

 properly to that species of rail which is com- 

 monly called a mud hen. With such confu- 

 sion of popular epithets it is no wonder that 

 scientific names are preferred by those who 

 wish to be exact. These " coots " that I speak 

 of are really ducks, and they are known as the 

 American scoter or butter-bill, the surf scoter 

 or skunk-head, and the white-winged scoter. 



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