312 DUSKY DUCK. 



lance, and their peculiar habits. During the day they chiefly 

 abandon the marshes; and float in considerable bodies on the 

 Delaware, taking their repose, with the usual precaution of em- 

 ploying wakeful sentinels, to give notice of danger. In the 

 evening they resort to the muddy flats and shores, and occupy 

 themselves throughout the greater part of the night in seeking 

 for food. When searching out their feeding grounds, every in- 

 dividual is on the alert; and on the slightest appearance of an 

 enemy the whole mount and scatter, in such a manner, that, 

 in a flock of a hundred, it would be difficult to knock down 

 more than two or three at one shot. Their sense of smelling is 

 uncommonly acute, and their eyesight, if we may judge from 

 their activity at night, must be better than that of most species. 

 When wounded on the water, they will immediately take to the 

 shore, if in the vicinity, and conceal themselves under the first 

 covert, so that one accustomed to this habit can have no diffi- 

 culty in finding them. G. Ord. 



