DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 



are thereby rendered less conspicuous. With the return of the power 

 of flight, however, they regain their distinctive, male plumage, which 

 is usually brighter than that of the female. With our Geese and Swans 

 there is no sexual difference in color. 



Most of our Ducks and Geese breed in the north, some within the 

 Arctic Circle, and winter from the southern limit of frozen water south- 

 ward. The American Merganser, Hooded Merganser, Wood Duck, 

 Buffle-head, Golden-Eyes, Tree Ducks, and possibly Harlequin Duck 

 nest in hollow trees, at times some distance from the water. The 

 young of the American Golden-eye and of the Wood Duck have been 

 seen to reach the water by jumping from the nest-hole and fluttering 

 down in response to the calls of the parent below. It is said that they 

 are also brought down in the bill of the old bird, but this statement 

 apparently lacks confirmation. 



The remaining species of our Ducks, Geese, and Swans, nest as a 

 rule, on the ground generally near water. From five to fifteen and, in 

 the case of the Fulvous Tree Duck, possibly as many as thirty egj:s are 

 laid. In color they vary from white to burry and pcle olive and are al- 

 ways uniformly colored. Incubation is performed by the female alone. 

 The males at this period among most Ducks deserting their male to un- 

 dergo the partial molt before mentioned. While incubating the females 

 surround their nest with soft down plucked from their bodies and when 

 leaving the nest to feed, this down is drawn over the eggs with the 

 double object, doubtless, of concealing them and of keeping them 

 warm. 



With Eider Ducks this down constitutes the larger part of, if not 

 the entire nest. Saunders states that in Iceland the down in each nest 

 weighs about one-sixth of a pound. This is gathered by the natives, 

 who, however, are careful to afford the sitting bird an opportunity to 

 raise her brood without further molestation. 



The collection of Eider down thus furnishes an admirable illustra- 

 tion of proper economic relations between man and birds. The down 

 is an important source of income to the natives of the comparatively 

 barren, northern countries in which the Eiders nest. So long as man 

 can remember it has been gathered annually. Still the Ducks con- 

 tinue to return in numbers year after year to the same region, per- 

 haps the exact spot in which they nested the year before. 



Less intelligent methods would perhaps rob the bird of its second, as 

 well as of its first nest and, unable to reproduce its kind, the species 

 would become extinct within a comparatively short period. 



The evils which would follow such a course are, however, thorough- 

 ly understood. The Ducks, in the first place, are encouraged in every 

 way. It is said that should one walk into a peasant's cabin and pre- 

 empt his cot as a nesting-site, the peasant would gladly give up his bed 

 to so valuable a visitor. 



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