HARLEQUIN DUCK 381 



For some reason there has been, in the last twenty to forty years, a very marked 

 reduction on the Atlantic coast, particularly in Maine and Nova Scotia. Even on 

 the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Comeau (1909) notes that it has de- 

 creased rapidly and that in recent years it has been seen only in April and May. 

 Langille (1S84) remarked that in his time about Mud and Seal Islands, Nova Scotia, 

 this species was still found in considerable numbers, sometimes as many as one 

 hundred in a flock. Mr. Harry Piers, of the Provincial Museum in Halifax, writes 

 me (1922) that at present the bird is only a rare winter resident. The last ones he 

 saw were in April and November, 1917. Mr. Bonnycastle Dale, who has given much 

 time to the study of flights of sea ducks along the Nova Scotian coasts, informs me 

 that in three years' work along the shore from Liverpool to Yarmouth he has not 

 seen a single individual. The species must at one time have been common in the Bay 

 of Fundy for Dresser (1871-81) estimated one Harlequin to every twenty Long- 

 tails in winter. 



In Maine several observers have noted a slow but steady decrease. Twenty or 

 thirty years ago the taxidermists were constantly receiving specimens. Mr. M. 

 Abbott Frazar, the well-known Boston taxidermist, tells me that he has seen almost 

 none for twenty years and was surprised when, on December 5, 1922, he received a 

 young male from Cape Cod. Farther south it is, and always has been, an extremely 

 rare winter straggler. A pair was reported recently from Montauk Point, Long Is- 

 land, New York (Griscom, 1922-23). The only individual I ever saw in Massa- 

 chusetts was off the breakers at Chatham, in January, 1896 or 1897. 



During the few years in which accurate and intensive bird study has been carried 

 on along the North Pacific coast no particular diminution has been reported. It is 

 certainly an abundant species from Puget Sound north to the Aleutians and Pri- 

 bilovs. Flocks of more than one hundred have several times been recorded. Fortu- 

 nately in all this region the Harlequin is little shot at during the winter, and its 

 mountain breeding grounds are so far beyond the reach of civilization that the sum- 

 mer is spent in comparative safety. 



Enemies. No specific notes are available. 



Food Value. While feeding in fresh water the Harlequin is, like the Golden- 

 eyes, a fairly good bird to eat. This applies particularly to young birds. After they 

 have reached the ocean the flesh becomes strong, as in all other diving ducks that 

 winter on the open sea. L. M. Turner (MS.) remarks that the flesh was very nice 

 and tender, but had a fishy flavor that could be removed by drawing the bird soon 

 after it was shot. Hantzsch (1908), writing of the same region (Ungava), reported 

 that the flesh was esteemed, but no doubt epicures are rare in that region. Slater 

 (1901), speaking of the nesting grounds in Iceland, went so far as to say that Harle- 

 quins were better than any duck of his acquaintance! 



