416 FEATHERED GAME 



of dead stubs, and in traveling about among 

 the branches it is equally expert with our Sum- 

 mer Duck. 



This Merganser breeds all through the United 

 States and northward, wintering from the Mid- 

 dle States south to the Gulf of Mexico. The 

 nest ready for the hatching contains from six 

 to eight buff-colored eggs. When the infants 

 are old enough, if the nest is distant from pond 

 or stream, the mother bird carries them in her 

 beak and puts them down on the edges of the 

 water one after another, until her brood is at 

 the new home where she plans to put the fin- 

 ishing touches to their education. 



Their life, like that of most ducklings, is a 

 most uncertain affair, likely to be terminated 

 at any minute by the sudden snap of hungry 

 mink or predatory hawk — even the finny 

 dweller of the pond showing an appreciative 

 taste in the direction of tender young ducks. 

 But the baby Shelldrake of either species is far 

 and away more lively and better able to take 

 care of himself than is any other young duck of 

 his age, and when he gets his growth will avenge 

 his family's wrongs upon the enemy, whether 



