296 FEATHERED GAME 



when on tlieir spring migrations, perhaps in 

 consideration of the weaker powers of the 

 young birds, or, having reared up their families, 

 they feel that they have earned a vacation and 

 so loiter by the way. 



Earely this bird is taken in our coast waters 

 during the winter months. It is mostly as a 

 migrant that we see it, as but few birds of this 

 species are believed to breed within our borders. 

 Still a careful search in the marshes and 

 swamps of our Maine lakes might perhaps 

 prove it a prominent citizen of those parts. 

 Its nest is made upon the ground and contains 

 from eight to ten dingy buff-colored eggs. 



It is said that in the Delaware and Chesa- 

 peake waters the Widgeon is something of a 

 pirate — an unfailing and steady attendant on 

 the canvasback, preying upon its hard-work- 

 ing neighbor and depending upon it for the lux- 

 uries and delicacies of the feeding ground, for 

 the Widgeon not being an expert diver, and the 

 canvasback feeding mostly on the roots and 

 plants growing on the bottom, — especially the 

 wild celery, of which all the duck family are 

 very fond, — the Widgeon uses his neighbor's 



