310 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



C. — A few days after, I took another not quite so large, 

 from an elm : I perceive they eat the leaves of either plant 

 indiscriminately. They are now spinning cocoons. I met 

 with a large Dragonfly {JEshna), handsomely spotted and 

 banded with bright grass-green, on a brown ground : I caught 

 it in my hand. 



F. — Here we open on the smooth river. Do you see 

 those two birds flying along under the bank, close to the 

 water's edge ? 



C. — They are ducks, by their straight, swift, but very 

 peculiar flight, and by the whirring of their wings. Do you 

 know of what particular species they are ? 



F. — I suspect them to be the lovely little Summer Duck, 

 or Wood Duck {Anas Sponsa), which haunts the borders of 

 our wooded streams. This is the most beautifully orna- 

 mented of any species of duck that I am acquainted with. 

 Its hanging crest, and its beautiful colours, have made it a 

 favourite in Europe, where it appears to be half naturalised. 

 I am little acquainted with our water birds, but I think it 

 probable that in our lakes and rivers most of the fresh- water 

 ducks that inhabit the United States may be found. One 

 of our neighbours shot on the Coatacook, where it runs 

 through the meadows, a few days ago, a summer duck, and 

 some Pied ducks, as he calls them, with sharp pointed bills, 

 but which, from his description, I take to have been no other 

 than the Hooded Merganser {Mergus Cucullatus). The same 

 person has told me of an attempt he once made to rear a 

 brood of wild ducks of some sort, which he calls the Black 

 Duck (possibly Anas Obscura). About the end of May 

 he found a black duck sitting on a nest, containing ten eggs ; 

 happening, at the same time, to have two hens in his yard 

 contending for the possession of one nest, he placed the duck's 

 eggs by the side of the hen's nest, and was gratified to ob- 

 serve that one pf the hens took to them. In due time the 



