170 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



such a fly way, he is i)ractically sure of good sport for about three 

 hours in the morning and again for an hour or two on the return 

 flight at sunset. 



Mr. Dwight W. Huntington (1903) describes another method of 

 hunting them: 



At Englisli Lake I shot them from a light boat, jumpiug theni in the wild 

 rice. The punter pushed the boat (which contained a revolving office chair for the 

 gunner) rapidly. The birds often arose at short range and presented easy marks. 

 They were very abundant on the Kankakee at certain bends in the river, where they 

 fed on acorns which dropped from the oaks into the water. A friend one day killed 

 over 70 of these birds over decoys, and I often made fairly good scores shooting from 

 a blind, but my fondness for moving about and exploring the marshes and ponds for 

 other ducks and a change of scene always prevented my making very large bags. 



Winter. — Long before the autumn frosts have begun to close the 

 northern ponds the tender "summ.er duck" has moved southward 

 toward its winter home in the rice fields of the Southern States, the 

 wooded sloughs and timbered ponds of Louisiana, and the cypress 

 swamps of Florida, mingling v/ith the summer birds of these congen- 

 ial climes. A few hardier individuals winter farther north, where 

 they can find sheltered ponds and streams with an abundant food 

 supply. They do not, like many other ducks, frequent the seacoast 

 in winter; if found near the coast at all, they are in the fresh-water 

 ponds and streams, protected from the winter winds. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — United States and southern Canada, entirely 

 across the continent. Breeds locally in almost every State and 

 southern Province, where suitable conditions exist. South to Cuba, 

 the Gulf of Mexico, south central Texas (San Antonio), probably 

 Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, and in southern California (Ventura 

 County). North to southern British Columbia (lower Fraser Valley 

 and Okanogan Lake), northwestern Montana (Flathead Lake), rarely 

 Great Slave Lake (Fort Providence) , southern Manitoba (Lake Winni- 

 peg), southeastern Ontario (Parry Sound and Muskoka districts) and 

 central eastern Labrador (Hamilton Inlet). 



Winter range. — Mainly in southern United States. South to Ja- 

 maica (rarely) and central Mexico (valley of Mexico and Mazatlan) . 

 North to southern British Columbia (Chilliwack) , central Missouri 

 (Missouri River) southern Illinois (Mount Carmel), and southern 

 Virginia (Petersburg). Winters casually north to Michigan (Kalama- 

 zoo County), and Massachusetts. 



Spring migration. — Early dates of arrival: New York, central, 

 March 16; Ohio, northern, March 10; Ontario, Ottawa, March 26; 

 Iowa, central, March 7; Minnesota, Heron Lake, March 24; Manitoba, 

 southern, April 2. Average dates of arrival: New York, central, 



