154 AQUATIC FOWL. 



young on the top of a very high hay-rick, and bring them down 

 in safety. 



Towards the middle of summer, the plumage of the male 

 undergoes a remarkable change, and approaches in colouring to 

 that of the female. With the autumn moult, the drake regains 

 his beautiful dress. This alteration is not so observable in the 

 tame drake. Upon the sea-coast, there is always a considerable 

 number to be found during winter, and in severe weather. In 

 some parts of America, they are not known ; in the Floridas, 

 they are, at times, seen in such multitudes as to darken the air, 

 and the noise they make, in rising, from off a large, submerged 

 savannah, is like the rumbling of thunder. A great, distinguish- 

 ing mark of the species, is the curled feathers of the tail. 



" Oft as the sun's last lingering ray, 



Gleams faintly o'er the fading scene, 

 By some still lake I bend my way, 

 Where, decked in plumage brown and gray, 



The mallard oft is seen; 

 With glossy neck of emerald hue, 

 And wings barr'd with the deepest blue, 

 That sapphire gives ; and ruddy breast, 

 By the clear, dimpling waters prest ; 



To sedgy covert, swimming near, 

 Where, on her nest, of rushes made, 

 His mate, in humbler garb arrayed, 



Broods o'er her eggs, with anxious care." 



The female is not so large, and of a rusty brown, spotted with 

 dusky black; the speculum on the wing is like the male, but 

 none of the tail feathers are curved. The legs of both sexes are 

 orange. 



THE DECOY, 



For catching wild ducks, affords considerable excitement, to the 

 fowler. It is usually made where there is a large sheet of water, 

 surrounded by wood, and planted with willows, or other under- 

 wood, and behind it a marshy and uncultivated country, where 

 the wild-fowl may securely sleep, during the day-time. It gene- 

 rally occcupies one or two acres. In the most sequestered part 

 of this lake, frequented by the birds, a ditch is cut, which is 

 about twenty yards long, and four yards across, at the entrance, 

 and decreases gradually in width, from the entrance to the farther 

 end, which is not more than two feet wide. The ditch is of a cir- 

 cular form, but does not bend much for the first ten yards. The 

 banks of the lake on each side of this ditch (or "pipe," as it is 



