376 HISTRIONICUS HISTRIONICUS 



opened under water. Indeed this partial use of the wings is quite characteristic of 

 the species. It has been noticed both in the field and on private ponds. Mr. Frank 

 W. Benson told me that while watching one on a clear stream in Wyoming at a 

 distance of only a few feet he could see it moving its wings while under water in 

 quick jerks, all the time holding them near its sides. It never extended its wings as 

 it would in flying. 



As L. M. Turner (1886) says, they usually feed near the shore, searching the shal- 

 low pebbly places. "When a breaker comes over them, they dive until it passes. At 

 Attu I have seen them dive before a breaker struck them, and in such shallow water 

 that I often wondered how they held on, as they came up at times not a foot from 

 where they went down." Norton has given an excellent description of their be- 

 havior in the winter home on the coast of Maine. "The Harlequins," he says, "were 

 attracted to the largest billow, one which surged high and sharp and broke about 

 fifty yards from the reef, where its force was spent. For considerable intervals the 

 ducks would sit facing the wind, but not advancing, slightly removed from the fury 

 of the breaker. Then drawing nearer to it they would dive to feed. Frequently all 

 would be under at once, but this diving seemed to depend slightly on the action of 

 the sea, as a portion of the flock, apparently not ready to dive, on being threatened 

 by a breaker, would plunge into it, only to rise after some time had elapsed. After a 

 few plunges they would rest on the surface of the water, usually in the path of the 

 great breaker, apparently in mere wantonness. Now they were in little groups scat- 

 tered parallel with the length of the wave, awaiting the rushing flood. ... As it 

 rushed over the inequalities of the bottom its crest began breaking at corresponding 

 intervals. High above them it topped, and as its crest broke in white foam, the little 

 ducks plunged headlong into its front, almost instantly reappearing in its train, 

 while perhaps others a few feet from them, with unerring calculation, would ride 

 over an unbroken part as lightly as bubbles." 



As Harlequins usually feed in shallow water they generally make only short dives, 

 from ten to twenty-four seconds, as actually timed by Alford (1920). 



Flight. It is characteristic of the Harlequins that they fly in small and very 

 compact flocks. So closely do they pack, says Turner (MS.), that sometimes more 

 than half of their number can be killed at one shot. They are very swift and active 

 on the wing, and when living on small streams they habitually follow every little 

 bend in its channel, never passing over the smallest tongue of land if they can help 

 it. The sharp-pointed wings are beaten swiftly and the bird swings from side to side 

 even more frequently than the Long-tailed Duck (Millais, 1913). Several writers 

 (A. M. Bailey, MS.; Dresser, 1871-81; etc.) have noted that they often dive directly 

 into the water if fired at while on the wing. In some places they even seem to prefer 

 diving to flying in order to escape danger. 



