FOUR NOTABLES 213 
are the legitimate game-birds of the country. Of the 
wild ducks, the most of these breed in the far North, and 
are hunted in their migrations. If this hunting is done 
fairly, as the law prescribes, and the birds are not chased 
and shot at from moving boats, or with repeating guns, 
or when startled from their sleep with flashing lights, 
they seem able to hold their own. Humanity, how- 
ever, demands that they should not be hunted on 
their spring journeys on the way to their nesting-haunts 
and when they may have already chosen mates. 
“One Duck there is, however, of exquisite plumage, 
gentle disposition, and quiet, domestic habits, nesting 
about inland ponds and streams, in the inhabited parts 
of the United States, from Florida up to Hudson Bay, 
that is in danger of swift extinction if the protection given 
song-birds is not extended to it. This is the Wood Duck, 
called in Latin ‘ Azz Sponsa’ —‘ Bridal Duck’ — from the 
fact that the beauty of his plumage was fit for a bridal 
garment. 
“Look at that bird, mounted on a mossy stump, in that 
case by the window. When I was a girl, I have seen a 
half dozen pairs in the pond above the grist-mill, and I 
knew as surely where I could always find a pair nesting 
as where I could find a Robin or Song-sparrow, but now 
it is fast becoming a bird of the past, only to be seen in 
pictures. Why isthis? The reasons are many, and some, 
such as the settlement of the country, and the draining 
of ponds and waterways, and the cutting down of river 
brush, cannot be helped. 
“The Wood Duck nests in a tree hole, and, when the 
young are able to leave the nest, the parents hold them in 
