284 PKAIRIE AND FOREST. 



THE WOOD-DUCK. 



This bird, which rivals in beauty of plumage the far- 

 famed mandarin duck of China, is seldom or never found 

 upon the sea-board of the United States, even in such 

 severe weather as freezes up the rivers, for on such 

 occasions, being migratory, it betakes itself southward to 

 more hospitable latitudes. However, during summer and 

 open winters, it will be found, not in large flocks, but in 

 little family parties of from four to eight, on all the streams 

 that have wooded margins south of the 45th degree of 

 latitude. Nowhere have I found them sufficiently abun- 

 dant to make them for the day the sole object of pursuit, 

 yet few excursions will be made in the vicinity of their 

 retreats that several shots will not be obtained at them. 

 Although not essentially n wild bird, still they have the 

 instinct, unless stalked upon unperceived, to flush just 

 beyond gun-range, and appear invariably to endeavour to 

 keep either some giant tree or immense limb between the 

 intruder and themselves. As their favourite perching 

 places are upon limbs of trees, it is useless to search for 

 them on the stream after being alarmed, for they invariably 

 make into the timber, and alight near the summit of such 

 trees as possess the densest foliage. Their nest is always 

 built in a tree, generally such a one as is overgrown with 

 ivy and leans over a pond or watercourse, the young being 

 carried in the bill of the parent bird from its nursery to 

 the water when it has arrived at sufficient maturity to 

 endure such treatment. Their flight is very swift and 

 powerful, so, although the bird is small, little larger than a 



