42 
British Diving Ducks 
1882, the first on May 12 and the last on June 1 1, and five in 1883, the first on May 17 and the last on 
June 4. As a rule these flights took place on comparatively warm days, with light westerly or south- 
westerly winds. On one day each year, however, there was a large flight with a light breeze from the 
east. A warm south-west wind is pretty sure to bring a large flight of Eiders. 
" The flight seldom lasts more than two or three hours, beginning about eight or nine in the morning, 
or between three and four in the afternoon. More rarely a flight begins about ten in the morning and 
lasts till afternoon. 
" During the flights, the great flocks in quick succession appear to strike the coast a few miles from 
the station, probably coming straight across from the Seahorse Islands, and then follow up the belt of 
level ice parallel to the coast towards Point Barrow, going pretty steadily on their course, but swerving a 
little and rising rather high when alarmed. 
"Their order of flight was generally in long diagonal lines, occasionally huddling together, so that 
several could be killed at one discharge. A few flocks in a great flight usually followed up the line of 
broken ice a mile or two from the shore, and a flock occasionally turned in at the mouth of the lagoon 
and proceeded up over the land. 
" On the days between the flights and when the wind was east, a few flocks would struggle up against 
the wind, either going up far off the shore or overland ; but most of the birds on ' off days ' came off the 
land from the south, and either continued on towards the open water or turned to the north-east along the 
broken ice. These flocks were never so large as the great flight flocks, and generally flew in more com- 
pact order. A few were occasionally seen early in the migrations going back towards the south-west. 
On many days when there were no ducks in-shore they flew abundantly at the ' lead ' of open water. 
" The majority of them are paired by the middle of May, and the flocks are made up of pairs flying 
alternately, ducks and drakes. If a duck is shot down, the drake almost invariably follows her to the ice, 
apparently supposing that she has alighted. 
" Early in June straggling pairs and small parties settle about the tundra pools and breed sparingly 
in the neighbourhood of the station. A few nests were found. After the main flight and during the 
latter part of June a few stragglers and small flocks are to be seen almost daily. 
"Captain Owen, of the steam whaler North Star, who got up to the Station June 25, 1882, reported 
that the day before there were myriads of Eiders of both sexes in the open water off Point Belcher. 
" By the second week in July, before the ice is gone from the sea or from Elson Bay, the males begin 
to come back in flocks from the east, and from that time to the middle of September there is a flight of 
Eiders whenever the wind blows from the east. The flocks are all males at first, but mixed flocks 
gradually appear, and the young of the year were first observed in these flocks on August 30, 1882. 
" Most of the flight birds make no stay but continue on to the south-west, generally a couple of miles 
out at sea, though they occasionally stop to rest, especially when there is much drifting ice. Between the 
regular flights they continue to straggle along, coming off the land, and occasionally sitting apparently 
asleep on the beach. Small flocks and single birds are to be seen till the season closes, about the end of 
October, and in 1882 many were seen as late as December 2, when there were many holes of open water. 
" When the birds are flying at Pergniak, it is quite a lively scene, as there is a large summer camp of 
Eskimos close to the point where the ducks cross when the conditions are favourable. When the wind is 
east or north-east, and not blowing too hard, the birds come from the east and strike the land at a point 
which runs out on the shore of the bay about half a mile from Pergniak, close to where the lagoons 
begin. 
" They would be apt to turn and fly down these lagoons were it not for a row of stakes, set up by the 
natives, running round the semicircle of the bay to the camp. As soon as the flock reaches this critical 
point, all the natives, and there may be fifty of them on the watch with guns and slings, just at the 
narrowest part of the beach above the tents, immediately set up a shrill yell. Nine times out of ten the 
flock will waver, turn, follow round the row of stakes, and naturally whirl out to sea at the first open place, 
where, of course, the gunners are stationed. With a strong wind, however, the ducks do not follow the 
land, but come straight on from the east and cross wherever they happen to strike the beach, so that the 
shooting cannot be depended on. 
" The flocks during the fall flight are not so large, and do not follow one another in such rapid succes- 
sion as in the spring, and though they arrive from the east in the same stringing order, they huddle into 
a compact body as they whirl along the line of stakes and out over the beach. 
