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THE HARLEQUIN DUCK. 



^-Fuligula histrionica, Linn. 

 PLATE CCCCIX.— Male, Female, and Young. 



I have the pleasure of presenting you with three figures of the Harlequin 

 Duck, one a male in all the perfection of its spring plumage, the bird having 

 attained complete maturity, another male two years old, and an adult female 

 shot in the pairing season. No figures of the adult male or of the female 

 have, I believe, hitherto been published. 



To the south of the Bay of Boston the "Lord and Lady Duck" is rarely 

 seen on our coast; but from that neighbourhood it becomes more plentiful as 

 you proceed eastward; and, on reaching Maine and the entrance of the Bay 

 of Fundy, you may see it at any period of the year among the rocky islands 

 there. It breeds on the Seal, White Head, and Grand Manan Islands, and 

 along the coast of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, and Labrador. 

 Many, however, proceed much farther north, for specimens were obtained 

 by Captain James Clark Ross in the highest latitudes visited by him. It 

 is extremely attached to certain localities, from which it rarely wanders 

 unless greatly molested, and it thus remains about the islands, or the parts 

 of the coast on which it breeds, unless it be forced off by very severe 

 weather in winter. Few persons shoot it for its flesh; not that it is inferior 

 as food to other deep-diving Ducks, but because it is comparatively small, 

 and difficult to be obtained. Not only is it at all seasons remarkably shy 

 and vigilant, but even if approached when on rocks, it plunges into the 

 water the moment its keen eye catches a glance of you, dives with all the 

 agility of the Black Guillemot, and seldom rises within shot. If you shoot 

 at it when passing on wing, even should it be beyond reach, it plunges into 

 the water the moment it perceives the flash, — a habit which is also occasion- 

 ally observed in the Black Guillemot. It being usually found in flocks of 

 one or two families, or of from twelve to fifteen individuals, some one 

 always acts as a watchful sentinel, whose single note of alarm is sufficient to 

 induce the whole to move off without hesitation. Notwithstanding all this 

 vigilance, however, my party procured a good number of them at different 

 times, by lying in wait for them under cover of some rocks, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of which they were known to alight at certain hours of the day, 



