THE DUSKY DUCK. 131 



Never shall I forget my childish glee on finding a flock 

 of these Ducks just hatched, following the mother in the 

 woods near a wild meadow. They were a dark olive, almost 

 black on the head and back. The old Duck seemed quite 

 tame, and the little ones did not try very hard to escape. 

 Filling my hat with them, I hurried home, but was soon 

 obliged to hurry back, as my mother did not approve of my 

 enterprise. 



A few months ago (1883), while visiting the old paternal 

 farm, I was again diverted by a flock of these same young 

 Ducks. The female rose from a mud-hole in the wild 

 meadow with a great splutter; and, standing still, I began 

 to look about me for the young. For some time I could 

 see nothing of them, they were so nearly the color of the 

 mud and the drabbled grass. By and by my eye caught one 

 which must have been fully ten days old, sitting perfectly 

 motionless in the water, which filled a cow's track in the 

 mud. Looking a little to one side I saw two more snuggled 

 together in a like dish of water, then another and another, 

 and still another all sitting so motionless that I do not 

 think they even winked. Thinking that I had looked at 

 them long enough I stepped forward, when, two more start- 

 ing up, they all hurried away helter-skelter into the bushes. 



The Dusky Duck ranges through Eastern North America 

 to Labrador, and, breeding more or less throughout, but 

 more especially to the north, is strictly an American species. 

 The nest, built on the ground, generally near the water, 

 sometimes in a tussock of grass, sometimes sunk into the 

 moss, or even placed on a moss-covered rock or on the top 

 of a decayed log, is composed of dried grasses and various 

 vegetable substances, the edge being well surrounded with 

 down and feathers if incubation be well advanced, and so 

 the nest complete, thus giving it a peculiar, dark appearance. 



