THE OLD SQUAW DUCK. 



' 7>) ERE is an instance where the 

 * female is the head of the 

 family indeed, for by 

 ~ l^^y common consent the 

 name includes the 

 male of this species. It has numerous 

 other names, however, as Old Wife, 

 South-Southerly, Long-tailed Duck, 

 Swallow-tailed Duck, Old Injun 

 (Massachusetts and Connecticut ;) Old 

 Molly, Old Billy, Scolder, (New Hamp- 

 shire and Massachusetts.) 



The habitat of the Old Squaw is the 

 northern hemisphere; in America, south 

 in winter to nearly the southern border 

 of the United States. It is distributed 

 throughout the northern portions of the 

 globe, but makes its summer home in 

 Arctic regions. George Harlow Clarke, 

 Naturalist, Peary Polar Expedition, in 

 a recent article mentioned that, " in 

 June the Old Squaw's clanging call 

 resounded everywhere along shore, and 

 the birds themselves were often 

 perceived gliding to and fro amid the 

 ice cakes drifting with the tide between 

 the main ice-floe and the land." It is 

 a resident in Greenland and breeds in 

 various places in Iceland. The nests 

 are made on the margins of lakes or 

 ponds, among low bushes or tall grass, 

 are constructed of grasses,and generally, 

 but not always, warmly lined with 

 down and feathers. The eggs are 

 from six to twelve in number. In the 

 United States the Long-tail is found 

 only in winter. Mr. Nelson found it 

 to be an abundant winter resident on 

 Lake Michigan, where the first 

 stragglers arrived about the last of 

 October, the main body arriving about 



a month later and departing about the 

 the first of April, a few lingering until 

 about the last jof the month. 



The words south - south - southerly, 

 which some have fancied to resemble 

 its cry, and which have accordingly 

 been used as one of its local names, 

 did not, to the ear of Dr. Brewer, in 

 the least resemble the sounds which 

 the bird makes ; but he adds that the 



names "Old Wives" and 



Old 



Squaws " as applied to the species are 

 not inappropriate, since when many 

 are assembled their notes resemble a 

 confused gabble. Hallock says that 

 most of the common names of this 

 Duck are taken from its noisy habits, 

 for it is almost continually calling. 



Mr. E. P. Jaques, asks, in Field and 

 Stream, " What has become of our 

 Waterfowl ? " assuming that their 

 numbers have greatly diminished. 

 " The answer is a simple one," he 

 goes on to say ; " they have followed 

 conditions. Take away their breeding 

 and feeding grounds and the birds 

 follow. Bring back their breeding and 

 feeding grounds and lo ! the birds re- 

 appear. For the past five years water- 

 fowl have been about as scarce in the 

 Dakotas as in Illinois or Indiana. The 

 lakes were dry and conditions were 

 unfavorable for them. In the spring of 

 1897 the lakes filled up once more. 

 For the most part the bottoms of the 

 lakes were wheat stubbles. This furn- 

 ished food for the spring flight and 

 thousands of birds nested there. When 

 the wheat was gone the aquatic growth 

 took its place and for every thousand 

 Ducks that tarried there in the spring, 

 ten thousand appeared in the fall." 



225 



