COLD AND WARM WEATHER BIRDS. T7 
times the third issue is delayed, probably, by over- 
flowed lands in the south, where food is found in 
abundance; in such cases the third issue rushes by, or 
stays only a day or two late in the season. 
During their fall migration they never arrive until 
driven down by cold weather (excepting a few which 
may breed in the United States), and the second issue 
follows rapidly after them; for a week or two they 
hang around where they can find cover and food; the 
first heavy snowstorm or driving sleet heralds the ar- 
rival of the third issue, and they with the yellow-leg 
mallards are the last of the non-divers to rush down 
from the wintry north. They are in full plumage at 
that time, and the birds which are killed in the fall in 
immature plumage are those which breed south of the 
Canadian line. The feeding grounds are in quiet cor- 
ners of down rice, muddy ponds, sloughs, margins of 
lakes and rivers, musquaids, etc., in corn, wheat and 
barley fields where muddy water stands. 
The playgrounds are in the open sections of water 
partly covered with lily or lotus leaves, or rushes scat- 
tered here and there, especially down rice, barley or 
flags, where they can be easily concealed. The roost- 
ing grounds are in open ponds, holes in wild rice or 
flags, edges of lakes, sloughs, musquaids, river bot- 
toms, willows near muddy banks, etc. The nesting 
grounds are from 48° parallel to 75° and islands be- 
yond, Alaska and Hudson Bay especially. 
They are both prairie and timber birds, according to 
location. Their clutch is from ten to sixteen whitish 
eggs. Length 14; wing 7; tarsus 1.20; extent 22.50; 
middle toe 1.30, 
2 
