DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [135] 



wherever open water prevails, either from warm springs or from swiftly 

 running water that prevents freezing. They often winter in numbers 

 along the little willow-bordered streams of the eastern part of the State 

 and can also be found on the streams in western Oregon, many of which 

 are mere silvery threads through heavily timbered country. 



One of the greatest game birds wise, wary of decoys as a usual thing, 

 unless on baited ground, swift of wing, and quick to take alarm the 

 mallard is the peer of any bird that flies. It can leap from the water 

 straight into the air and get under way with a swiftness that entirely 

 belies its weight. Despite the fact that it is usually picked by gunners 

 to the exclusion of many other birds, its wariness and adaptability have 

 enabled it to hold its own as well as any other species of waterfowl, and 

 it is still one of the most abundant ducks. Whether it is the soft nasal 

 quank of the male or the vigorous quack, quack of the female, its voice is 

 better known and brings a greater thrill to wild-fowl hunters than the 

 voice of any other duck. 



A shallow-water feeder by preference, it gains most of its food by 

 tipping up so that only the tail and feet project above the water, with its 

 broad heavy bill scooping vegetable matter from the bottom. It makes 

 a most excellent table bird, as it feeds almost entirely on vegetable matter, 

 its food consisting of grain, which it has learned to glean expertly from 

 wheatfields, and seeds, leaves, bulbs, bulblets, and roots of a great variety 

 of water plants. The seeds and bulblets of various sedges and the seeds of 

 pondweeds (Potamogeton) are particularly favored in Oregon. Insects also 

 are taken but usually to a minor degree. Examination of many stomachs 

 from various parts of the State indicates a very decided preference for seeds 

 and other parts of aquatic plants. 



Gadwall: 



Chaulelasmus streferus (Linnaeus) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: top of head with wide low crest; head and body gray, 

 crossed with wavy lines of black and white; rump and upper and lower tail coverts 

 black; wing marked with black, white, and bright brown; belly white. Post- 

 breeding plumage: duller and more spotted below. Adult female: head without crest; 

 head and neck finely specked with dusky on a buffy or whitish ground; chin and 

 belly white; rest of body with feathers dusky, bordered with buff." (Bailey) 

 Downy young: "The downy young of the gad wall is very much like that of the 

 mallard, except that it is decidedly paler and less richly colored; the pale yellow of 

 the under parts is more extensive on the sides and head extending nearly around the 

 neck where it is separated by a narrow dark stripe on the nape, the light superciliary 

 stripe is broader; the dark loral and postocular stripe is narrower and the auricular 

 spot is hardly noticeable. The upper parts are 'bister,' deepening on the crown to 

 'bone brown'; the under parts are 'cartridge buff,' paler on the belly and deepening 

 to 'cream buff' or 'Naples yellow' on the neck and sides of the head; the light 

 patches on the scapulars and sides of the rump are buffy white." (Bent) Si%e: Male, 



