176 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:5— May, 1917 



before the female. Stretching head and neck, he throws them clear 

 back over his body till his bill touches his tail. Then suddenly 

 he recovers himself uttering his characteristic call of ''Beard'' very 

 sharph^ while the female sometimes acknowledges this attention 

 by flattening herself upon the water, swimming rapidly away with 

 head and neck extended straight out from the body. 



The notes of wild ducks are perhaps the strangest and most 

 surprising revelation to the bird student. Contrary to common 

 beHef, there are rather few ducks which "quack." Female black 

 ducks and mallards quack, but, cA^en with these, there is con- 

 siderable variation and the males make a much softer, subdued 

 sound. The red heads on the middle of the lake, keep up a more 

 or less continual calling — a loud, nasal, rather shrill ''can'' some- 

 what resembling the note of a }'oung crow, while the scaups crill 

 low and resonantly and occasionally utter their characteristic 

 "scaup." The male canvasbacks, perhaps che strangest of all, 

 have a note which suggests a cow mooing far off in the distance. 

 This they are able to do with the bill closed. The female canvas- 

 backs, when alarmed, titter a very low "quack." Doubtless there 

 are other notes of each species, those of the males and females 

 differing widely. 



The ducks are a large and perplexing family of birds, the more so 

 because of the inaccessibility of their haunts, their great wariness 

 under most circumstances, and their varying plumages. But if these 

 fascinating water fowl each with its life history, its individuality, 

 and its curious litcle marks of character that we do not expect of the 

 animal world, could be as familiar to us as the birds of our feeding 

 stations and nest boxes, what a wealth of new pleasure would be 

 ours. Let us follow the wild duck to the lakes and marshes and 

 learn its secrets. 



The following key based largely on the wing markings which are 

 conspicuous in flight is offered in the hope that it may simplify 

 the field identification of our commoner wild ducks. Immature 

 birds of both sexes closely resemble the females and therefore no 

 particular mention is made of them. The various plumages of 

 the eiders and harlequin duck have been omitted because these 

 birds are very^ rare in the United ^States. 



