The Mallards finish their breakfast on the fields and return to the 

 marsh before the sun tops the horizon. 



delayed each morning, so in the course of an autumn the morning flight is 

 deferred accordingly, and in October the passage to the fields starts more 

 than an hour later than in August. 



Mallards must respond to the light of the sun. This is not remarkable, 

 but it is an important point in our understanding of waterfowl. Clearly they 

 are aware of the sun and act upon that awareness in a positive manner. 

 When Mallards shot in the dawn flight are examined, we find their gizzards 

 empty. These stubble birds are ready for food well ahead of dawn, but they 

 hold to their sand bars until the stain in the east is their signal to make away 

 to the fields. 



After returning from stubble, Mallards loaf, preen, and find their grit, 

 then take their morning nap on lakeshore or mud bar. In the afternoon they 

 fly once more across the marsh to their second meal of the day. The be- 

 ginning of this afternoon passage is never so precise as that of dawn and is 

 more frequently modified by other influences. For example, I have never 



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