Harlequin Duck 
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individuals form a flock) ; they then constantly utter this whistle as they chase each other over and 
through the water. Several males will attend one female during this season until she selects her choice. 
During the breeding season I have seen three males with one female." 
In the early part of May or end of April Harlequin Ducks are already paired on the 
sea-coast of North Iceland, and move first to the estuaries and then up the rivers to their 
breeding places. Like all these diving ducks, the pair are much attached to one another, 
and if one is shot the other will stay by its fallen comrade and attempt to make it move by 
pushing it with the bill. Fortunately, however, in Iceland there is no shooting in the 
spring as there is in Greenland and Arctic Canada amongst the Esquimaux and Indians. 
Moreover there are in all these far northlands many hundreds of square miles where the 
Harlequins breed and the foot of man never treads, so that these beautiful birds are in no 
danger of extermination. 
The Harlequin Duck makes her nest generally close to the bank of some swift-flowing 
river. Sometimes it is placed in holes in the bank or cracks in the lava, but more often 
under bushes of wild angelica, in tufts of Empetrtmi nigrum, dwarf willow, or coarse sedge 
and vegetation. Another favourite nesting place is an islet in the middle of a swift river, 
and Mr. Jourdain found quite a colony of Harlequins breeding in such a place in June 191 2. 
He says : "We estimated that some seventeen pairs must have been nesting on one small 
island. About twenty birds were seen in the water just under the lee of the island, and 
all but two or three were males. Now and then we saw a pair. In one case we saw a 
female come out of a hollow, and she was immediately joined by a male, and the two went 
up stream together, swimming, diving, and sometimes walking when the water was quite 
shallow." 
H. J. and C. E. Pearson thus describe {Ibis, 1895, p. 244) the nesting places of this 
duck in the Myvatn district, Iceland : — 
** This species breeds latest of all the duck ; our first eggs were taken on July ist, and on the i8th 
of July fresh eggs were still being brought to us. The nest is generally placed at a distance of under 
two yards from the water, which is preferably a quickly flowing river. H. J. Pearson visited some 
islands in a river on July i ith, and this river was the remainder of an old lava stream. The lava had 
formed a dam across the river, which was later broken through and four channels formed, and the water 
in these flowed like a mill-stream, so that it was difficult to cross it even with Iceland ponies. There 
were six nests with eggs on these islands, three of them only two-thirds of a yard distant from the water 
under the leaves of wild angelica, the others, in holes in the bank near the water, were sheltered by a 
screen of overhanging plants. Most of the nests contained very little down, although the eggs were 
almost hatched. The down of these duck is very much coarser (larger) than that of any other species 
taken by us, for separate feathers have a diameter of 34.8 mm, There were many old nests, too, in 
these cavities, which proves that these islands have for years been a favourite breeding place. Our dog, 
on the 9th of July, scared a duck from its nest containing seven eggs about ten metres from the water 
and placed under a clump of birch, but we are convinced that this is an unusual distance from the water. 
Flocks of more than thirty males were often seen together, and afforded a fine sight ; some sat on the 
rocks, others swam in rapids which would suit few other birds." 
Riemschneider also gives us {Ornitk. Monatssckr., 1896, p. 313) a very pleasant 
and accurate picture of the Harlequin in describing its movements and breeding habits. 
He says : — 
" This is the finest of all the species here. Their movements both on land and water are quick, 
skilful, and graceful ; they run swiftly on dry land, and their gait reminds one very little of the waddling 
