DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. .247 



in spring, we have a high freshet in some river valley 

 and a general flooding of the lowlands. At such a 

 time single ducks of several species are very sure to 

 make their appearance. I once spoke of this to an 

 old gunner, and he told me that these " odd birds 

 were mostly drakes." But where are they in ordi- 

 nary stages of the water ? They are not seen at all 

 times, and so can scarcely be included with the " pen- 

 sioners," or slightly wounded ducks we see occasion- 

 ally in Chesapeake Bay, birds just enough crippled 

 not to be able to migrate. 



When for some undeterminable reason wild ducks 

 venture upon our rivers, close to the danger-line of a 

 town's limits, they exercise a wonderful deal of inge- 

 nuity, and would not be detected by the ordinary 

 passer-by. The keen-eyed duck-hunter spies them 

 out occasionally and outwits them; but the tables 

 are as often turned, and every one escape. It is 

 really remarkable how many ducks come and go, up 

 and down our rivers, unseen by the people living on 

 the bank of the stream. The gunners bring into 

 the town many a duck that is known only to the 

 inhabitants as a dead bird ; the living one they 

 never saw ; and yet a flock of ducks feeding on a 

 broad expanse of water is well worth seeing. The 

 glossy green heads of Mallards, the bald pates of 

 Widgeon, the great loose-feathered topknot of a 

 Butter-ball, the delicate gray plumage and tapering 

 tail of a Sprig-tail, the parti-colored Shoveller, to 

 gether, or singly, give a picturesqueness to some wide 

 reach of the river that is worth a long journey to see. 

 The extreme timidity of these birds makes this well- 



