/ 
(4) 
Oidemia amerioana 
1889. Maine. 
L. TJmbagog. 
its neck upright. 
*r then shortens neck and sinks back into 
the water. The body must be raised by means of the feet for the 
wings are not opened in the least. The entire action takes only 
a fraction of a second. 
One of these large flocks when shot into invariably flies, 
its members never scattering about and diving.. They usually go 
several miles before realighting;$ometimes merely coursing up 
anc down the Lake fifteen or twenty yards above the water; at 
others, rising high in the air and^after wheeling and circling 
for ten or fifteen mnutes at the height of several thousand feet, 
coding down again on set wings precisely as they do m coming in¬ 
to the .Take at early morning. During one of these elevated flights 
they are continually changing their order, sometimes moving m a 
dense cluster, sometimes m a V,like Geese, sometimes stretched 1 
out in a long line either parallel or at right angles to their 
course. When they bunch closely together the crowded wings fre¬ 
quently strike one another 'ith a muffled sounc like that of a 
paddle dropped lightly on the water. This may be heard m still 
'weather at a distance of a mile or more and the escaping steam 
sound when the flock descends is audible at a still greater dis¬ 
tance. During these flights they also utter at times their pe¬ 
culiar loud shrill 11 0 r e e 11 This note, repeated incessantly as l 
frequently is by dozens of birds at a time, produces a jingling 
medley which at a distance closely' resembles that of many sleigh 
bells and doubtless has given to these birds the appelation of 
Sleigh Bell Ducks by Much they are very'generally known to thq 
people of this, region. When in the water they are usually silent, 
note and also 
a medley of 3ow croaking sounds closely resembling those produced 
by wood frogs in the spring. These two notes are all that I have 
cer ain.ly identified, but when there are surf Scoters in the 
flock one often hears their short,hoarse quack also. T am not 
sure that I have heard the ”Cree from a female or young bird, anc 
in fact suspect that it is peculiar to the adult males. These 
often utter it just after coming up from a a i ve.W'&*w 
As before stated I know of no ms. ance m which a flock of 
these birds that has once alighted in the Lake has been driven 
out of it during the day, but they invariably resume their journ¬ 
ey southward soon after dark on the following evening, rising 
course long after they are 
described. T - uoy ua . vor apparent Ijj attempt 
further than by occasionally sipping the 
apparent 1;^ altempt to feed m the Lake 
n by occasionally sipping the water as they swim, 
&L e 81 ° 1 H h bell medley just 
lyjl attempt to feed in the Lake 
ipping the water as they swim, for 
7 0 
