THE LONG -TAIL ED DUCK. 
261 
the rocks near some well-known feeding-place; but if oncetlieir 
suspicions are aroused, success is almost hopeless. They will 
not always abandon the spot, but they keep a constant watch 
upon it all the time they are above the surface. I have waited 
with the gun cocked and resting upon a rock until I thought 
tlie bird upon which my mind was set had surely forgotten me, 
but it has invariably dived before the shot could reach. They 
nearly always dive when fired at, and take wing immediately 
upon their reappearance ; but even when one is perfectly sure 
of the spot at which they will rise, to row towards it is almost 
useless, so rapidly do they propel themselves through the water 
with the double assistance of wings and feet. Sometimes in a 
chopping sea they will allow a rowing boat to near them within 
twenty yards, but to attempt to approach them within a 
hundred in such a manner when the sea is calm and every stroke 
of the oars can be heard at ten times the distance, is merely to 
throw away labour. When a mile off the land, I have often 
shot at one sitting (a chance of a flying shot seldom occurs), when 
it has dived instantly and not reappeared, although every pair 
of eyes in the boat has been eagerly on the watch. “ Got hold 
of the bottom and drownded hisself,” is always the consolatory 
verdict. When alarmed by a boat or by a distant shot, they 
take wing without diving previously; but as they usually allow 
a sailing boat to run pretty close up when the breeze is fresh, a 
good cross shot may then be obtained, as they rise head to wind 
It is very evident that in describing the Long-tailed Duck, 
authors, copying from one another, or from the examination of 
stuffed skins, have fallen into error regarding the eye and 
“ bare parts,” however good their descriptions of the plumage 
may be. Macgillivray says of the adult male in winter. — The 
basal half of the bill is black, the rest orange-red, but with the 
unguis black ; the iris red ; the tarsi and toes dull yellow ; 
the membranes dusky ; the claws black.” 
My own notes, which I am sure all who have handled 
recent specimens of this duck will be able to confirm, give a 
somewliat different account. 
