344 BUCEPHALA ALBEOLA 



typical situation : an open space in a marshy lake. Such a brood furnishes one of the 

 most charming sights in the duckling world. The old bird led them along the edge 

 of the open water, but more often directed them in front of her, remaining several 

 yards nearer than they to the advancing canoe, in order to shield them from danger. 

 All the while she called grrk in a low tone, ducking her head slightly at each note. 

 Several photographs of the family were taken at a distance of forty to fifty feet. 

 Sometimes, when the canoe began to head them off, the old bird held back and called 

 to the young in a way that seemed to mean 'about face,' for they turned then and 

 went in the opposite direction. Sometimes, when pressed too closely, and apparently 

 at the old bird's behest, they skittered over the water. During the action their wings 

 were evidently kept at their sides, the feet alone propelling them along on their 

 bellies, like animated toboggans. Meanwhile the female acted more or less the same, 

 pushing speedily over the surface without the use of her wings. The brood did not 

 take to the adjoining marsh at all." 



Males band together as early as July first and in some places leave the region al- 

 together. Such evidently is the case in central British Columbia. Very likely, how- 

 ever, they only require a proper cover and a feeding ground in which to go through 

 their moult, for Harper found old males in eclipse in the Athabasca region, at least 

 up to mid-July, and collected one for me. On July 14 he noticed a flock of fourteen 

 males in various stages of eclipse plumage and at other times saw smaller groups, 

 occasionally mixed with non-breeding (?) females. 



Status. This is rather difficult to estimate, for the Buffle-head is not a "sport- 

 ing" duck. Let me take New England first. Forbush (1912) noted a decrease of this 

 duck in Massachusetts waters from correspondence with many people. In these cases 

 we would like to know more than the bare fact of decrease, if possible a guess at the 

 actual amount of decrease over a given period. My twenty-two years of records at 

 Wenham Lake deal almost entirely with transient autumn migrants, most of them 

 females and young. Between 1899 and 1922 there is a decrease of around thirty or 

 forty per cent. During the last two or three years there has been a slight indication 

 (too soon to talk about) of a recovery. It is here an uncommon duck and not always 

 shot at, but its presence is always noted on the log-book and it represents about three 

 per cent of all ducks taken for the whole period. Neither can it be called common as 

 a wintering duck. In Lynn Bay, Massachusetts, for instance, which is a favorite 

 haunt for Scaup and Golden-eye, the number varied from twenty-five to seventy- 

 two in the winters 1906 to 1918, according to counts made by the late H. W. Wright. 

 It is said on good authority not to be holding its own on the coast of Connecticut 

 and in Long Island Sound. 



It passes through the Lake Erie region, that shooters' paradise, in large numbers, 

 but few are killed, and club records give no idea of its relative abundance. The 

 sportsmen are at that time fully occupied with more valuable fowl. 



