SCAUP DUCK. 
89 
northern shores of Siberia. Is very frequent on the river Ob. 
Breeds in the north, and migrates southward in winter. It in- 
habits America as high as Hudson’s bay, and retires from this 
last place in October.* 
Pennant and Latham state that the male weighs a pound and 
a half ; and the female two ounces more. This is undoubtedly an 
error, the female being less than the male, and the latter being ge- 
nerally the fattest. Montagu says that the species weighs sometimes 
as much as thirty-five ounces, which statement comes nearer the truth 
than that of the foregoing. On the 8th of April, of the present 
year, (1824,) the Editor shot, on the Delaware, an adult male which 
weighed two pounds and three quarters. He has frequently shot 
them of two pounds and a half ; and on the Chesapeake, and on 
the coast, they are still heavier. 
In the Delaware there are several favorite feeding grounds of 
the Blue-bill along the Jersey shore, from Burlington to Mantua 
creek ; but the most noted spot appears to be the cove which ex- 
tends from Timber creek to Eagle Point, and known by the name 
of Ladd’s cove. Thither the Blue-bills repair in the autumn, and 
never quit it until they depart in the spring for the purpose of 
breeding, except when driven away, in the winter, by the ice. It 
is no uncommon circumstance to see many hundreds of these birds 
at once, constantly diving for food ; but so shy are they, that even 
with the aid of a very small, and well-constructed skiff, cautiously 
paddled, it is difficult to appi'oach them within gunshot. So very 
sagacious are they, that they appear to know the precise distance 
wherein they are safe ; and, after the shooter has advanced within 
this point, they then begin to spread their lines in such a manner 
that, in a flock of a hundred, not more than three or four can be 
selected in a group at any one view. They swim low in the water ; 
are strong feathered ; and are not easily killed. When slightly 
^ Latham. 
VOL. VIII. 
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