THE DUCK FAMILY. 2$ 



wearing them possesses the table quahties that have 

 made the species famous. 



Hybrids between different species of the fresh water 

 ducks occur quite frequently, and many perfectly au- 

 thentic examples of this have been examined by com- 

 petent authority, although in many instances a sup- 

 posed hybrid is nothing more than some species with 

 which the gunner is unfamiliar. In his great work, 

 "The Birds of North America," Audubon figured a 

 hybrid under the name Brewer's duck. Hybrids be- 

 tween the mallard and the muscovy, the black duck and 

 the pintail are not uncommon. One of the latter, which 

 I still possess, I killed in Wyoming, and I have killed 

 several black duck-mallard hybrids in North Caro- 

 lina. Besides these, ducks have been killed which ap- 

 pear to indicate a cross between mallard and gadwall, 

 between teal and pintail, and even between wood duck 

 and redhead. On the other hand, some years ago, 

 when my gunner picked up a male English widgeon 

 which I had killed, he suggested that it was a hybrid 

 between a redhead and a widgeon. 



It is to be noted that the hybrids supposed to be a 

 cross between the black duck and mallard, while pos- 

 sessing the general appearance of the black duck, ap- 

 pear to exceed either parent in size, and the males often 

 possess the curved tail feathers of the male mallard. 



Ducks and geese are to a great extent nocturnal in 

 their habits. Many, if not all of them, migrate by night, 

 and in localities where they are greatly disturbed on 

 their feeding grounds they are likely to pass the hours 



