DUCKS 



117 



as soon as the first days of April, but more gen- 

 erally from about April 20 to the first week in 

 May. The broods keep very close in the thick 

 swamps, and seldom show themselves on open 

 water, unless it be close to thick aquatic reeds or 

 grass. During August they take to wing, and the 

 number of them reared in the vicinity can be 

 judged somewhat by their evening flights. They 

 are crepuscular and considerably nocturnal, fly- 

 ing and feeding during the night and at dawn and 

 dusk. 



The planting of wild-duck foods has become a 

 real art. Captured birds are induced to breed 

 in marshy enclosures. The eggs are given to 

 domestic jraultry, which raise the young some- 

 what tamer. These hand-reared birds breed much 

 more readily than the wild parents. Many of 

 the young are allowed to go wild, and these, 

 through " the homing instinct," return in spring 

 to breed in the locality. Herbert K. Job. 



" In the interior the food of this species is 

 largelv vegetable, particularly in the fall. In 



4k 



W ^irU-^^iMI^J 



Photograph by H. K. Job 



^. 



BLACK DUCKS 

 Just after aUghting 



The Black Duck is notably hardy, and can en- 

 dure almost anything in the line of cold, so long 

 as it can find open water in warm springs or small 

 streams, where its food of aquatic animals or 

 plants is accessible. I have seen it in wooded 

 swamps in mid-winter, where there was open the 

 merest little channel of a small stream. At times, 

 in regions along the sea-coast, it flies out on the 

 bays, or the open sea in daytime, to take refuge 

 from disturbance. 



Important practical projects have been carried 

 out by private enterprise to establish the breeding 

 of this and other species of Wild Ducks in large 

 tracts of swampy land, where there are ponds. 



the sjjring more animal food is taken. The vege- 

 table food includes grass roots taken from 

 meadows, roots, and shoots of aquatic plants, 

 wild rice, grains, weed seeds, hazel nuts, acorns 

 and berries. The animal food includes small 

 frogs and toads, tadpoles, small minnows, newts, 

 earthworms, leeches, and small shell-fish. The 

 food of the Black Duck has the same practical 

 interest for the game preserver as has that of 

 the Mallard, for the Black Duck is closely related 

 to the Mallard, thrives almost equally well on 

 grain, and when grain fed, becomes a very ex- 

 cellent bird for the table." (Forbush, in Game 

 Birds, Wild-Foii'l and Shore Birds.) 



