Descriptive List • 85 



This is one of the smallest as well as the most trustful and unsuspicious of our 

 ducks. It does not decoy readily though it appears to have little fear of the gunner. 

 It is a strong diver, but when alarmed prefers, if given a fair chance, to escape by 

 flight. This it accomplishes by taking wing slowly along the surface of the water 

 with head directly to the wind. It has not been many years since the market- 

 hunter began to shoot these plump little birds, which formerly swam or flew about 

 him unnoticed. The high prices they command of late have drawn to them the 

 aim of gunners throughput their range, and as a natural result the "Boobies" show 

 a marked decrease in number. A popular method of killing is to "ring shoot" them 

 from a number of boats which have surrounded a feeding flock. 



Fig. 55. Ruddy Duck (adult nmle). 



Twenty years ago this duck was very common on Currituck Sound and in tlie 

 waters around New Bern. At that time, in Currituck, all ducks other than Canvas- 

 back and Redhead were classed as "common ducks," and brought about thirty cents 

 a pair to the market-gunners. In counting the smaller species — among which was 

 the Ruddy Duck — foiir specimens were required to make a "pair." 



A peculiarity of this duck in those days was its disinclination to cross land in 

 trying to escape the gunner. A l:)unch that could be worked up a creek, or into a 

 narrow bay, by a careful maneuvering of the boat, would thus afford good shooting 

 when the birds finally attempted to escape back to the open water. 



SUBFAMILY ANSERIN/E (GEESE) 



Genus Chen (Boie) 



KEY TO SPECIES 



1. Plumage cliiefly grayish brown, tlie rump and wing-coverts bluish gray. Blue Goose. 



1. Plumage of adult chieflv white, the young grayish white. See 2. 



2. L., 23.00 to 2S.00; W., "14..50 to 17.00. Snow Goose. 



2. L., 30.00 to 38.00; W., 17.3.5 to 17.50. Greater Snow Goose. 



66. Chen hyperboreus hyperboreus (Pali). Snow Goose. 



Description. — Enti"e plumage, except primaries with their coverts, white; primaries black, 

 their bases and coverts ashy. Im. — -"Head, neck and iipjier jiarts pale grayish, the feathers 

 of the latter with whitish edges and (especially wing-coverts and tertials) striped medially with 



