WILD DUCKS. 293 



made, as they decoy in fine style, answer the ''call" 

 promptly, and are much less cautious than they are on 

 sunny days. They arrive in the Atlantic States from the 

 north between the first and the middle of October, but 

 they are constant summer residents in the Territories be- 

 yond the Rocky Mountains, as they nest in the vast and 

 silent regions extending from Manitoba to Alaska. When 

 they commence migrating, they move in immense masses, 

 and cover all open waters where their favorite food, wild 

 celery and wild rice, grow in abundance. They rarely 

 stop anywhere but in open water; and if they are dis- 

 turbed much on the feeding ground they leave it at once 

 for safer quarters. Even the pot-hunting method of cap- 

 turing them, by means of submerged nets placed on their 

 feeding flats, is sure to drive them away in a short time, 

 and the probability is that they will give such places 

 a wide berth for the future; whereas, if they are shot 

 only while " trading " from point to point, they will stay 

 until the cold weather sends them south for the winter. 

 When these birds live on wild rice, grain, and wild celery, 

 they become exceedingly fat, juicy, and tender, but if they 

 secure their food in tide-water marshes, their flesh is 

 little better than that of mergansers. I have seen them 

 so fat in some of the Western and Southern States that 

 they could hardly rise from the water, and when they did, 

 it was with much labor, and, evidently, against their will. 

 They are readily approached when in that condition, as 

 they do not take to flight until they are thoroughly 

 alarmed. It is easier to bag them on cold, dark morn- 

 ings, than when the weather is warm and bright, as they 

 cling to their roosting places with greater tenacity, and 

 will stand several rounds before they decide to leave. 



A close ally of the canvas-back, and one which is not 

 readily distinguished from it by a novice, is the red-head, 

 or pochard [Fuligula ferina, var. americana), yet it may 

 be easily identified by its difference in plumage, the form 



