BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 123 



farther south, it is probable that the protection that they 

 now receive here in winter and spring has induced many of 

 them to remain here instead of going south. 



The Scaup breeds from the northern United States north- 

 ward to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. It is rather rare 

 in Greenland, where it probably breeds, but we have no 

 means of knowing whether the Greenland birds come here in 

 migration. It summers mainly in the northern part of the 

 western province of North America, and it migrates south- 

 east in fall to reach southern New England and the Middle 

 States. Its center of abundance in winter is along the Atlan- 

 tic coast. It returns by a similar route, though it sometimes 

 pushes farther north along the coast in spring than the region 

 included in its normal winter range. The regular southeast- 

 ward migration of the species is usually finished in November, 

 and they winter wherever December finds them; but in 

 severe winters they are driven away from the open lakes and 

 marshes by the ice, and at such times they fly to the coast 

 in January, when they sometimes arrive in considerable num- 

 bers on Long Island Sound. In January and February the 

 northward movement along the Atlantic coast begins, and as 

 soon as the lakes of the interior are partly freed from ice, in 

 March, the Broad-bills are seen on their way to their summer 

 homes. Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes of Ithaca, N. Y., says that 

 the Greater Scaup is a common bird there in winter on open 

 marshes. Mr. John M. Winslow of Nantucket says that there 

 are some fifteen hundred to two thousand Scaup around the 

 island. The numbers do not change much. 



On the Maine coast its food seems to consist largely of 

 surface-swimming crustaceans and mussels (Knight). Fish 

 fry, insects and the buds, stems and roots of aquatic plants 

 are eaten by this bird in fresh water. It is fond of the buds 

 and root stocks of the wild celery, and, in company with the 

 I^esser Scaup, the Canvas-back and the Redhead, frequents 

 waters where this plant grows, and, by diving, brings up the 

 buds from the bottom. 



