A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of t"he Audubon Societies 



Vol. XI September— October, 1909 No. 5 



The Courtship of Black Ducks 



By EDMUND J. SAWYER. Schenectady, N. Y. 



Illustrated by the author 



ON April i6, 1908, at Hogansburg, N. Y., two Black Ducks began to 

 appear regularly in early morning in a rather more secluded part of 

 the pastures. The ground here was more closely hemmed in by woods. 

 Several ponds, the largest covering half an acre, with numerous cedar and 

 willow bushes intervening, attracted the birds. 



One morning, just before sunrise, these Ducks treated me to a spectacle as 

 fine as any it has been my lot to see in the bird world. It was about a quarter 

 of five when, as I neared the ponds, seven or eight Black Ducks flushed a hundred 

 yards ahead. After watching them circle off out of sight, my back being then 

 turned to the pond, I glanced about just in time to see two Ducks dropping 

 into the water. A minute later, a bunch of five or six more flew into the same 

 pond. I crept from knoll to knoll until, at a distance of perhaps one hundred 

 and fifty feet, I could see the birds, and plainly hear their quacking, which 

 was almost continuous for a quarter of an hour; then it quickly ceased. Some 

 of the birds were swimming about; others preened or quietly fed near or upon 

 the bank. Most interesting were the actions of one pair that, from the time the 

 flock came, constantly raced from end to end of the pond, one bird closelv {pur- 

 suing the other. Now and again the chase became too hot, and the leading bird 

 in a thrilling swirl of water rose several feet into the air, followed immediately 

 by the other. Toward the farther end of the pond, they would splash into the 

 water, soon to take wing again in the opposite direction. As, with necks stretched 

 far out and downward, the pair flew half the length of the pond — two or three 

 rods — while the other Ducks looked quietly on or went indififerently about 

 their feeding, making the water dance till it seemed alive with Ducks, the scene 

 was really spectacular. Again and again I heard the pair of Ducks break from 

 the water, and the splash, splash, as they droj^ped into the pond again. Each 

 time they rose, it seemed as though they must discover me, for at such times I 

 was in open view, had the}- glanced in my direction. On other occasions, I have 



