HARLEQUIN DUCK 379 



Courtship and Nesting. The Harlequin always flies inland to clear swift- 

 flowing mountain streams to nest. In Iceland they appear on the breeding grounds 

 in late April and soon after go up-stream to the nesting places. In the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and Alaska they do not arrive from the sea-coast until somewhat later. At 

 Fort Chimo, Labrador, Turner (MS.) says they arrive by the 25th of May and then 

 frequent the smaller fresh-water ponds and lakes. Later on, when the sea ice leaves 

 they frequent the outlying islets and the rugged shores of the larger islands. 



Toward the end of winter they assemble in larger flocks and it is then that the sex 

 postures may best be seen. This display was first adequately described by Brether- 

 ton (1896) from birds seen on Kadiak Island: "In giving forth the call the head is 

 thrown far back, with the bill pointing directly upwards and widely open; then with 

 a jerk the head is thrown forward and downward, as the cry is uttered, and at the 

 same time the wings are slightly expanded and drooped." Turner (MS.) speaks of 

 several males squabbling over one female and describes the jealous males as ex- 

 tremely pugnacious, flapping through the water with surprising speed against the 

 intruder and with open mouths uttering hissing sounds as they seize the offender by 

 the body and, if he does not dive, pluck out a bill-full of feathers. Some writers 

 speak of the sexes being equal in number on the breeding grounds, although, of 

 course, the young do not mate until at least two years old. At Comox, on the coast 

 of British Columbia, Allan Brooks {in litt.) noted that on the last day of March 

 adult males were greatly in preponderance and no young birds had been seen for two 

 months or more. As in the American Scoter these old males chased females about 

 all winter, usually on the wing, five to nine males fluttering about after one female, 

 sometimes seventy -five feet in the air. 



In Iceland the eggs are found by the middle of June, sometimes, however, not 

 until the first of July. One traveler went to Iceland to obtain eggs for hatching 

 under hens and was told by the natives that almost all the Harlequins had hatched 

 out before the 20th of June (C. B. Smith, 1908). This situation, if indeed it actually 

 occurred, must have been very exceptional, for the species certainly nests much 

 later than most ducks, perhaps by as much as three weeks (Slater, 1901). 



Judging from the few actual nesting dates for the Rocky Mountain and Alaskan 

 regions the laying season must average late, because many of the streams to which 

 they resort are scarcely clear of ice and snow before mid- June. In the Rockies near 

 Lake McDonald, Montana, I once saw a female with young unable to fly in late 

 August and there are several other records of females with young scarcely grown, at 

 the middle or end of that month. 



It is extraordinary how few nests have actually been recorded from any locality 

 outside of Iceland. In that happy resort of the duck tribe they are frequently found 

 on small islands in rapid streams, in holes of the banks or under brush near the 

 water. The Pearsons (1895) noticed that the nest was generally placed at a distance 



