1 66 WATER FOWL. 



When wounded it shows much cunning, skulking and 

 hiding among the grass, or beneath the overhanging 

 banks of marshes, and it will immerse its entire body be- 

 neath the surface, leaving only the bill exposed and, if 

 all else fails, will go to the bottom and hold on to the 

 grass until life is extinct. The Little Broad Bill is very 

 swift upon the wing, and comes to decoys readily, but 

 can get away from their vicinity when alarmed about as 

 quickly as anything that flies. It generally goes in 

 flocks of from one to three dozen, sometimes consider- 

 ably more, and comes boldly up to a blind or sink-boat, 

 usually " company front," and on the discharge of a gun 

 the birds scatter in every direction like a swarm of bees, 

 straight up in the air, or off to either side in most admir- 

 able confusion, gathering together again when the point 

 of danger is passed, and speeding onward in undulating 

 lines over the middle of the broadest stretch of water. 

 The wounded birds that have fallen amid the decoys 

 immediately dive, sometimes going directly under water 

 from their descent in mid-air, appearing again only for 

 a second at some distance away, either headed for the 

 nearest marsh, or swimming in the wind's eye toward the 

 open water. When wounded they are very difTficult to 

 capture and bother even the best retriever greatly; div- 

 ing incessantly and with great rapidity, sometimes right 

 under his nose, appearing behind him or on one side, and 

 keeping the dog spinning around like a top in his efforts 

 to sieze such a slippery object. 



The flesh of this duck is sometimes very tender and of 

 good flavor, but these qualities depend altogether upon 

 what it has been feeding, for it is not very select in its 

 diet, and will swallow all kinds of shell-fish, probably 

 frogs, newts, or any similar creature it can catch, and on 

 this food it becomes rank and disagreeable, quite unfit 



