surf duck. 339 



among the surf or the raging billows, where it seems as unconcerned as if it 

 were on the most tranquil waters. It rises on wing, however, with con- 

 siderable difficult)', and in this respect resembles the Velvet Duck; but when 

 once fairly under way, it flies with rapidity and to a great distance, passing 

 close to the water during heavy gales, but at the height of forty or fifty 

 yards in calm and pleasant weather. It is an uncommonly shy bird, and 

 therefore difficult to be obtained, unless shot at while on wing, or when 

 asleep, and as it were at anchor on our bays, or near the shore, for it dives 

 as suddenly as the Velvet and Scoter Ducks, eluding even the best percus- 

 sion-locked guns. The female, which was killed as she flew off from the 

 nest, uttered a rough uncouth guttural cry, somewhat resembling that of the 

 Goosander on similar occasions; and I have never heard any other sound 

 from either sex. 



The migration of the Surf Ducks eastward from our southern coast, begins 

 at a very early season, as in the beginning of March none are to be seen in 

 the New Orleans markets. When I was at Eastport in Maine, on the 7th 

 of May, 1S33, they were all proceeding eastward. How far up the St. 

 Lawrence they advance in winter I have not learned, but they must give a 

 decided preference to the waters of that noble stream, if I may judge by the 

 vast numbers which I saw apparently coming from them as we approached 

 the Labrador coast. I have never seen this species on any fresh-water lake 

 or river, in any part of the interior, and therefore consider it as truly a 

 marine Duck. 



During their stay with us, they are always seen in considerable numbers 

 together, and, unless perhaps during the breeding season, they seem to be 

 gregarious; for even during their travels northward they always move in 

 large and compact bodies. When I was at Newfoundland, I was assured 

 that they breed there in considerable numbers on the lakes of the interior. 

 My friend Professor MacCulloch, of Pictou, however informs me that 

 none are seen in Nova Scotia in summer. A gentleman of Boston, with 

 whom I once crossed the Atlantic, assured me that the species is extremely 

 abundant on the northern shores of the Pacific Ocean, and about the mouth 

 of Mackenzie's river. Mr. Townsend mentions it as being also found on 

 the Columbia. It appears that a single specimen of the Surf Duck has been 

 procured on the shores of Great Britain; and this has induced the orni- 

 thologists of that country to introduce it as a constituent of its Fauna. 



In all the individuals which I have examined, I have found the stomach 

 to contain fish of different kinds, several species of shell-fish, and quantities 

 of gravel and sand, some of the fragments being of large size. Their flesh 

 is tough, rank, and fishy, so as to be scarcely fit for food. 



In the young males, in the month of September, the whole upper plumage 



