BIRDS OF THE SALT MARSHES 



bobs his head back so that it rests on the 

 rump,— a most singular and undignified posi- 

 tion for a suitor,— that he displays his orange- 

 red legs with a spurt of water, and that he 

 emits an extraordinary double note which is 

 loud and rasping. In fact, he is perfectly irre- 

 sistible, and the ladies all succumb, and each 

 drake finds a duck/ 



At sunset all the whistlers leave the 

 marshes, where they have been feeding dur- 

 ing the day, and fly out to sea to spend the 

 night. It would be manifestly unsafe for 

 ducks to sleep on the surface of the narrow 

 creeks, for they would either be carried by 

 the wind or tide against the banks or stranded 

 on the flats, whereas on the surface of the 

 ocean they can rest undisturbed. In the day- 

 time I have noticed that sleeping ducks, with 

 their bills buried in the feathers of the back, 

 head up into the wind, and that they paddle 

 gently so as to keep in the same place. Some- 

 times, with one leg tucked under a wing, the 

 bird paddles with the other, so that it revolves 

 in a circle. 



The black duck has a different outlook on 



* For a full account of the courtship action of this bird and of 

 the eider see " A Labrador Spring/' pp. 84-95. 



239 



