64 QUEHQUEDULA STREPERA. 



■when the ponds are not surrounded by trees, for the purpose 

 of searching for food. It nibbles the tender shoots and blades 

 of grasses with apparent pleasure, and will feed on beech nuts, 

 acorns, and seeds of all kinds of graminese, as well as on tad- 

 poles, small fishes, and leeches. After rain it alights in the 

 corn-fields, like the Mallard, and picks up the scattered grains 

 of maize. The common notes or cry of the female have a 

 considerable resemblance to those of the female Mallard; but 

 the cry of the male is weaker, as in that species." 



