2i io FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS 



The dusky duck {A. obscura] of Eastern North America may 

 be taken as an example of a second group of the genus in which 

 the sexes are alike at all seasons, and there is no white at the base of the wing. In 

 this bird the prevailing color of the plumage is dusky, with the feathers bordered 

 with dull ochre, the head and neck being deep dull buff streaked with dusky, and 

 the wing speculum usually deep violet. 



This British duck (A. strepera) is a small more markedly-distinct 

 species, sometimes separated as a distinct genus, under the name of 

 Chaulelasmus. Structurally it is distinguished from the preceding by the narrower 

 and shorter beak, in which the edges are not quite parallel, the lamellae are visible 

 externally, and its upper border is not convex in front, while it is further dis- 

 tinguished by the dull coloration of the speculum, which is simple black and white 

 mainly the latter. The gadwall is a very widely-spread species, occurring in 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, and is represented in an island of the 

 South Pacific by the somewhat smaller Coues' gadwall (A. couesi). 

 Habit Limits of space preclude any detailed account of the habits of the 



various species of ducks of this genus, but the following excellent 

 account, referring to the mallard, may be quoted from Macgillivray, who writes 

 that " marshy places, the margins of lakes, pools, and rivers, as well as brooks, rills, 

 and ditches, are its principal places of resort at all seasons. It walks with ease, 

 even runs with considerable speed, swims, and on occasion dives, although not in 

 search of food. Seeds of grasses and other plants, fleshy and fibrous roots, worms, 

 mollusks, insects, small reptiles, and fishes are the objects of its search. In shallow 

 water it reaches the bottom with its bill, keeping the hind part of the body erect by 

 a continued motion of the feet. On the water it sits rather lightly, with the tail 

 considerably inclined upward; when searching under the surface, it keeps the tail 

 flat on the water, and, when puddling at the bottom with its hind, part up, it directs 

 the tail backward. The male emits a rather low and soft cry between a croak and 

 a murmur, and the female a louder and clearer jabber. Both on being alarmed, 

 and especially on flying off, quack; but the quack of the female is much the louder. 

 When feeding, they are silent, but when satiated they often amuse themselves with 

 various jabberings, swim about, approach each other, move their heads backward 

 and forward, " duck " in the water, throwing it up over their backs, shoot along its 

 surface, half flying, half running, and, in short, are quite playful when in good 

 humor. On being surprised or alarmed, whether on shore or on water, they spring 

 up at once with a bound, rise obliquely to a considerable height, and fly off with 

 speed, their hard-quilled wings whistling against the air. When in full flight, their 

 velocity is very great, being probably a hundred miles in the hour. Like other 

 ducks, they impel themselves by quickly repeated flaps, without sailings or undula- 

 tions." With regard to the foregoing statement as to the speed of the mallard's 

 flight, it is probable that there is considerable exaggeration, since a recent writer 

 records a case where a couple of wild ducks started off at full speed in front of a 

 train which had disturbed them, and although the train was running at the rate of 

 only thirty-seven miles per hour, the birds were overtaken. Like most of its kindred, 

 the mallard usually builds its nest in a depression of the ground near the margin of 



