156 RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



destroyers of mosquito life but the foregoing quotation hardly does jus- 

 tice to the efficiency of fish in this regard as goldfish are largely vegetarian 

 in their feeding habits and, therefore, do not afford a good comparison.) 



Like most Pond Ducks, the Mallard springs vertically into the air 

 from land or water and flies directly away in a strong, well-sustained 

 flight. It is not recognized as one of the fastest of fliers, but the greatest 

 migration speed, recorded up to 1935, for a banded bird is that of a 

 Mallard, banded on November 23rd, 1930, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, 

 and shot five days later, 900 miles away, near Georgetown, S. C. "This 

 bird doubtless flew at least 1,000 miles in the 5 days, as it route probably 

 was not in a direct air line, but, even so, the average daily distance was 

 only 200 miles, which could easily have been covered in five hours" 

 (Lincoln, 1935). Mallards have been timed in flight by aeroplanes and 

 found to be traveling at speeds of 46, 50, 55, 58 and 60 miles an hour. 



There are many records which establish a definite "homing" in- 

 stinct in ducks, of which the following is an outstanding example. Lin- 

 coln (1934) says: "A classic illustration of the return of an adult duck 

 to its nest site of the previous year is the Mallard that carries Biological 

 Survey band 555414. Banded in November, 1927, at a game refuge 

 near Antioch, Nebraska, this duck his returned every year since and 

 has occupied the same nesting site, which, curiously enough, is a box 

 on the roof of a barn. This bird is known to have produced more 

 than one hundred ducklings, many of which have been banded. Thus 

 far there has been no evidence that a single one of these voung birds 

 has returned to nest even in the State where it was hatched, though 

 individuals of the broods have been recovered south to Arizona, Texas, 

 and Louisiana, and north to Alberta." A footnote adds: "This duck 

 returned to the refuge on February 4th, 1934, and remained all summer 

 but failed to breed. In 1933 she produced a complete set of 'runt' eggs 

 which apparently marked the final effort of her ovaries." 



The handsome Mallard is an active, wary bird and its large size, 

 abundance, and excellent table qualities place it high on the list of the 

 game birds of the world. It is a prime favourite of gunners everywhere, 

 decoys well, and is probably the most sought after of all ducks. In the 

 West, sportsmen recognize two varieties of Mallard, the larger yellow- 

 legged kind and the smaller red-legged bird. Regarding this, Roberts 

 (1909) says: "The birds that furnish the early fall shooting are smaller 

 and lighter in weight, with darker bills and plainer plumage than those 

 that come later. Hunters are inclined to consider them a different spe- 

 cies, but they are only the young and the imperfectly molted adults of 

 the more southern-breeding birds. The later, larger, and more handsome 

 ducks, with yellow bills and orange-colored legs, are those breeding far- 

 ther north, that are farther advanced in the molt and better conditioned. 

 The flight of 'big northern mallards,' so called by many duck-hunters 

 and eagerly awaited in the fall, is not, therefore, made up of a different 

 kind of mallard, but only a heavier feathered, better fed, more perfectly 

 dressed bird than the earlier ones. Most of our ducks do not fully re- 



