THE WHITE-WINGED SCOTER. 



617 



it is difficult to recall it as anything but a sea-bird. My own memory is quite 

 crowded with visions of a long black line of the coveted birds bobbing and 

 diving in serene content, always at a distance of a gun-shot and a c[uarter 

 frnm the edge of the lapping tide. 



The Scoters are clumsy about getting to wing, and accomplish the feat 

 only after much noisy flapping, during which the bird's head is brought down 

 as if it were trying to get hold of its own boot-straps ; but once going it moves 

 with great 

 swiftness, and 

 since it is a 

 heavy bird, ac- 

 quires a con- 

 siderable mo- 

 mentum. I 

 shall not soon 

 forget a win- 

 ter afternoon 

 on P u g e t 

 Sound, when 

 two of us 

 crouched be- 

 hind drift logs 

 on the neck of 

 a long sand- 

 spit, which en- 

 closes the 

 teeming wa- 

 ters of Sem- 



iahmoo Bay. The Scoters had been feeding upon the bay at high tide 

 in immense numbers, but at nightfall they began to retire across the neck 

 to the open sea. On they came by little squads, hundreds of them, moving 

 like volleys of cannon balls, and clearing the brief stretch of land with a 

 wing-rush which tried the tense nerves to the utmost. Bang! Bang! went 

 the guns, and the birds which acknowledged the salute (not all were polite) 

 grounded on the beach beyond with a thud like an aerolite, — at least so it 

 seemed to excited senses. 



This species has not been much observed in Ohio, but it should be found 

 sparingly on Lake Erie, and occasionally at the reservoirs, both during migra- 

 tions and in winter. To the four records given by Professor Jones I am 

 able to add only one, that of a male taken in the fall of 1881 upon the grounds 

 of the Wynous Point Shooting Club, and preserved in their collection. 



Taken in Ottaifa County. Photo by Claude Bucher. 



A GOOD PI^ACE FOR SEA DUCKS. 



