WOOD DUCK 229 



of a pond or stream, it immediately shakes its tail sidewise, looks 

 around, and proceeds in search of food. It moves on the larger branches 

 of trees with the same apparent ease; and, while looking at thirty or 

 forty of these birds perched on a single sycamore on the bank of a 

 secluded bayou, I have conceived the sight as pleasing as any that I have 

 ever enjoyed. . . . They swim and dive well, when wounded and closely 

 pursued, often stopping at the edge of the water with nothing above it 

 but the bill, but at other times running to a considerable distance into 

 the woods, or hiding in a cane-brake beside a log." 



The northern limits of its summer range extend no further north 

 than Southern Canada so it has not far to travel on its migration. In 

 the autumn it is an early migrant, moving south in September and the 

 early part of October. In the spring it is moderately early and appears 

 in its summer haunts just as soon as the ice has left the pools and tim- 

 bered swamps. As it both breeds and winters over such a large portion 

 of its range, its migrations have been hard to trace. Its winter home ex- 

 tends as far south as central Mexico but the large majority stay in the 

 inland ponds of the Southern States, rarely, if ever, visiting the sea 

 coasts. 



