168 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



low thump that seems to be uttered immediately before the chick but seeming to be 

 made by different organs than are used vocally. It has the peculiar intensity of the 

 sound made by the springing in and out of the bottom of a tin or other can. It may 

 be made during the utterance of the chick, for though quite loud positively it is so 

 illusive that it is hard to tell exactly just when it is made. It does seem however 

 to be made quite independently of the other sounds, though it is never heard alone. 

 Another note he gives when he is quiet and usually when quite alone. I have 

 heard it several times in the dead of night. It is comparatively loud and consists 

 of a series of from half a dozen to a dozen whistles like H-o-o-w-e-e-e-t. They follow 

 each other rather rapidly and are without accent, the H-o-o gliding smoothly into the 

 w-e-e-e-t without change in inflection. The whole having much the timbre of the 

 sound made by drawing the finger nail sharply over and across the grain of heavily 

 shot silk. Another note is made when he seems to be talking to himself and is some- 

 thing like Chick a wangh, the angh being rather drawn out, and the first syllable short. 

 It is not loud either, in fact none of the notes it makes seem fitted for any more than 

 the most private conversation. The only other note that I have heard it utter is a 

 little short cheep, cheep, 



Mr. Elon H. Eaton (1910) describes the note as follows: 



The call of the drake is a mellow peet, peet, but when frightened it utters a harsher 

 note which is usually written hoo eek, hoo eek. The note of the duck, when startled, 

 is a sharp cr-r-e-ek, cr-r-e-ek, cr-r-e-ek, somewhat like the drake's alarm note. 



The intimacy of the wood duck with the hooded merganser on its 

 breeding grounds has been already referred to above, as well as under 

 the latter species. It also associates with the hooded merganser 

 somewhat at other seasons, as similar haunts are congenial to both 

 species. On migrations it usually flocks by itself and is not much given 

 to frequenting the open resorts of other ducks. It is more essentially 

 a bird of the wooded bottoms, narrow sluggish streams, heavily tim- 

 bered reservoirs, and forest swamps. 



Young wood ducks have many natural enemies to contend with, 

 such as large pickerel, pike, and snapping turtles, which attack them 

 from below and drag them under water to drown them. I quote 

 again from Audubon's (1840) matchless biography of this species: 



Their sense of hearing is exceedingly acute, and by means of it they often save 

 themselves from their wily enemies the mink, the polecat, and the raccoon. The 

 vile snake that creeps into their nest and destroys their eggs, is their most pernicious 

 enemy on land. The young, when on the water, have to guard against the snapping 

 turtle, the garfish, and the eel and, in the Southern Districts, against the lashing 

 tail and the tremendous jaws of the alligator. 



The wood duck has always been able to hold its own against its 

 natural enemies, but it has yielded to the causes of destruction brought 

 about by the hand of man and by the encroachments of civihzation. 

 The wholesale cutting down of forests and draining of swampy wood- 

 lands has destroyed its nesting sites and made its favorite haunts 

 untenable. Its beautiful plumage has always made it an attractive 

 mark for gunners, collectors, and taxidermists, and its feathers have 

 been in demand for making artificial trout flies. Almost anyone who 



