BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. Ill 



may induce Wood Ducks to nest there. This device is often 

 successful, and I have seen a Wood Duck family that was 

 reared in a nest of this kind. Where they are unmolested 

 they become tame. A family once frequented a small pond 

 within a hundred yards of my house, and a pair bred in a city 

 park several seasons. 



The Wood Duck is a surface feeder. Most of its food is 

 obtained in shallow water or on shore. It takes both vege- 

 table and animal food, insects, chestnuts, acorns, etc. 



Bay and Sea Ducks (Subfamily Fuligulinse). 



The Ducks of this subfamily may be distinguished from 

 the Mergansers by the broad bill, and from the River Ducks 

 by the lobe or flap on the hind toe 

 (Fig. 6), and the habit of diving for 

 their food. This habit will not distin- 

 guish them from the Mergansers nor 

 from the Grebes, Loons or other diving 

 birds. To identify Ducks in the field a 

 strong field glass or a small telescope is 

 necessary, particularly with the Bay and 



Fig. 6. — Foot of Sea Duck. ^ -^^ , i • i p i 



hea Ducks, which trequent large open 

 waters, and often cannot be approached under cover. Most of 

 the species breed on fresh water in the interior, but a few, par- 

 ticularly the Eider, nest mainly on the coasts and islands of the 

 sea. After the breeding season they all make toward the sea or 

 the larger bodies of fresh water, where, with few exceptions, they 

 feed largely on shell-fish and crustaceans, which give them a 

 rank and fishy flavor. Many of these Ducks are rather heavy 

 and unwieldy in rising from the water, but all fly swiftly and 

 well. There is a wide variation in appearance not only in the 

 different species but often between different members of the 

 same species. Descriptions of a species by different authors 

 rarely agree, unless copied one from the other. This is in 

 part due to individual variation among the Ducks and in 

 part to individual variation among authors. In the Scoters, 

 commonly called Coots, for example, the young in passing to 

 maturity (a process which occupies two or more years) not 



