306 SWIMMERS. 



at length urged into the net, sometimes in such quantities 

 that five or six dozen have been taken out at one drift. 



The food of the Wild Duck is small fish, fry, snails, aquatic 

 insects and plants, as well as seeds and most sorts of grain. In 

 the severity of winter, if the standing waters become frozen, 

 these birds remove to running rivers and resort to the edge of 

 woods in quest of acorns or other suitable food ; but if the 

 frost continues for eight or ten days they disappear, and do 

 not return till the early thaws of the spring. 



The Mallard is a rare bird in New England and the Provinces, 

 but it is quite common in western Ontario and Manitoba, and 

 elsewhere throughout North America, breeding from about latitude 

 47° northward. 



Nuttall's statement that many of these birds pass the greater part 

 of the winter in Greenland has been questioned, though European 

 naturalists have been aware that the Mallards were influenced to 

 migrate more by the absence of open water than by change of 

 temperature. Mr. Hagerup has confirmed Nuttall's statement 

 lately by reporting that in south Greenland the Mallards "are 

 common the whole year round, but most numerous in winter, when 

 they keep in small flocks along the shore." 



