374 HISTRIONICUS HISTRIONICUS 



can easily be confused with the Golden-eyes, the Scoters or even the Buffle-head. 

 The bizarre spots and patches have led to various highly theoretical attempts at an 

 explanation, but attempts only, in rny opinion. 



Its habitat is as remarkable as the bird itself. Instead of favoring the open feeding 

 grounds occupied by Eiders, Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks and others in winter, it 

 hugs closely the roughest, rockiest shores of headlands and outer islands where the 

 surf breaks over hidden ledges. The more exposed the place the more popular it 

 seems to be, and all who have seen them have marveled at their powers of calculation 

 in outwitting the force of the heaviest waves. But in summer the breeding pairs 

 merely exchange the neighborhood of breaking surf for the most boisterous moun- 

 tain streams, where they are perfectly at home amid the spray of waterfalls, in rapids 

 and among rocks. 



In Alaska, the Yukon Indians had a habit of taking the skins of the males, of stuff- 

 ing them, decorating them with beads and cloth and giving them to the children as 

 toys (Nelson, 1887). When Turner (MS.) was collecting in Alaska he noticed that 

 the natives of Attu Island tried to dissuade him from shooting these ducks, saying 

 that the flesh was not worth the ammunition. Turner suspected that there was some 

 superstition about this, for he never could elicit from the natives a satisfactory ex- 

 planation of their attitude. 



In working up the older literature of this bird in our West one must be careful not 

 to confound the Harlequin with the Carolina Duck. A good many references to 

 Carolina Ducks in the Rocky Mountain region of our West really have to do with 

 Harlequins. An old English writer, Briggs, reported the breeding of Harlequins in 

 captivity some seventy-five years ago, but his birds were afterward found to have 

 been Carolinas. 



Waeiness. No matter where found Harlequins are easy to approach on land or 

 sea. Their habit of traveling in compact little flocks makes them an easy mark when 

 on the wing, and their "packing" on the water usually makes a shot all too effective. 

 Sometimes L. M. Turner (1886) noticed that they would merely open ranks and 

 allow a canoe to pass between without getting up. In Labrador he noticed them 

 squatting flat on the rocks near the water, endeavoring to escape detection. Some- 

 times they would not fly, even though his kayak passed within a few feet of them 

 (Turner, MS.). Millais (1913) reports similar behavior in Iceland, where the males 

 after the nesting season showed a disposition to hide, crouching behind rocks even be- 

 fore the flight feathers had been dropped. No doubt their trustful disposition has had 

 something to do with the reduction in their numbers on the North Atlantic coast in 

 the last fifty years. Those which used to congregate on the outer islands off Maine 

 are said to have easily fallen victims to the boy shooters. When Norton was hunt- 

 ing Harlequins on the Maine coast in the winter of 1894 he several times noticed that 



