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1889. Maine. 
T..' TJmbagog 
Scoters of all three, species were more numerous in Umbagog 
this autumn than I have ever known them to be before; among 
them the present species represented fully seventy-five per cent 
of the total number. I saw the first flock September 81st It con¬ 
tained three adult males and four brown birds, probably females. 
■I shot two males. The next seen were on October 3d when a flock 
of fully one hundred .came into the .Lake. Of these at least nine¬ 
ty were adult- males, and several of the remaining ten, all of 
which were brown birds, were Surf Scoters. On October IOth a flok 
-of about seventy-five alighted in the Lake. Of these fully nine 
tenths were females and young. On the I2th I saw a flock of sev¬ 
enteen, on the 16th a flock of nine, on the I9th a flock of thirty 
-all of these being brown birds. Besides these records, most of 
which, were authenticated by shooting specimens, 1 saw several 
other flocks, at too great a distance to be sure as to whether 
they were American Scoters or Surf- Lucks. On October 30th at 
...about 8 A. M. , just as I was leaving Lakeside on my way home, an ex 
traor rdinary number of Scoters appeared over the Lake, circling 
about and finally alighting in several distinct flocks. The 
largest flock contained at least six hundred birds ano. in all 
there must have been fully one thousand in sight from the house 
at one time. They were so far away that I could not identify 
them, but they all certainly bolongec to either one of the other 
of the two species just mentioned and doubtless represented both. 
It will be observed from the foregoing that the first flocks 
which came into the Lake were largely composed of adult males, 
showing that these migrate first. Nearly all the larger flocks 
.contained a few Surf Scoters although the latter often occurred 
in flocks by themselves. Both species invariably came into the 
Lake sometime between daylight and ten o'clock A.M., usuall. be¬ 
tween six and eight A.M. We often saw them come in and in no in¬ 
stance that I remember were any observed swimming in the Lake 
before sunrise. They came from the west or the .north-west ana dur¬ 
ing their descent made a prodigious noise which resembled the 
sound of wind blowing through pines, or still more closely, that 
of escaping steam. Looking up we would often discover a cluster 
of black specks u»o or three th ous and feet abo ve .the Lake, shoot¬ 
ing down almost vert i cal Ivwtwith set vrinasJ ^' Aft er descendTngS to 
■within one hundred feet of less o f thg w ater they' would either 
make a wide circle to Pke&k theu f or Tfr e '^uf ■ ■ t h o ix.^ a »A a » t and then 
A 
alight, or oftner, yesunie their flight on a level plane and course 
f>7 
