LONG-TAILED DUCK 365 



the west end of Lake Erie. At Rondeau he found that no less than twelve tons (cal- 

 culating 1500 ducks to the ton) had been conveyed to the fertilizer factory. Of these 

 some were already dried and powdered, others were in process, and thousands were 

 on the floor waiting their turn. Mr. Saunders was told that every year the fishermen 

 catch Long-tails by the dozens or the hundred, but the total numbers are, as a whole, 

 negligible. No such slaughter as the one just mentioned had ever been seen before. 

 For some reason or other this species seems particularly liable to be taken in deep 

 gill-nets, probably because the other ducks, like Golden-eye, Buffle-head or Scoters, 

 do not dive so far. 



Behavior est Captivity. Although adult birds of this species have often been 

 kept in captivity they usually die in a few months and ordinarily before they have 

 time to go through a moult. Mr. Blaauw told me that some of his specimens had gone 

 far enough to almost assume the black plumage of summer, but he never had any 

 real success with them. Mr. Wormald never tried to keep his, although he acclima- 

 tized a few and got them "on feed." I believe that Mr. St. Quintin was the first to 

 rear Long-tails from wild-gathered eggs, sent him from Iceland. He succeeded in 

 rearing them to maturity and they lived till mid-winter, but none of them lasted a 

 full year. 



In 1923 Mr. Wormald received eggs from Iceland and these came out in twenty- 

 four to twenty-five days. They hatched on July 22 and showed continuous growth up 

 to August 20 (seventeen ounces) and after that they remained at a nearly constant 

 weight until August 30. The tail and mantle feathers appeared about August 6 and 

 on the 26th they would have flown if they had not been pinioned. The little ones were 

 put out under a bantam the day after they hatched and were allowed access to a shal- 

 low, circular cement tank in which there were placed fresh-water shrimps and small 

 snails while ants' " eggs " and dried flies were floated on the top. Almost at once they 

 began diving for the shrimps and ate a little meal off the edge of the tank but they 

 would not pick it up at the hen's call. Afterward they were found to take maggots 

 best and not to be at all partial to ants' " eggs" and dried flies, although some little 

 Scaups in the next pen ate them well. It was found a good plan to mis the maggots 

 with a prepared meal. On the 28th, chopped angleworms were added to the diet. 

 In spite of rather cold, wet weather this brood got along fairly well but they did not 

 get thoroughly "water-proofed" until they were eight days old. 



In 1924 Mr. Wormald hatched some more Long-tails and I had the pleasure of 

 seeing them in July. He afterward wrote me that owing to a bad, rainy season he 

 lost all of these, although this same summer he had fourteen young Scaup, nine 

 Barrow's Golden-eye and three Harlequins, a remarkable achievement. 



Thienemann (1903), who kept some alive through a whole summer, made some 

 interesting observations on plumage changes and feeding habits. In a clear pond 



