274 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



They are very swift and powerful upon the wing, 

 and require as much hitting, if not more, than any 

 bird of their size, therefore No. 3 shot and a ten-hore 

 gun should be used. They are also very wary, and 

 unless in a snow-storm, when they appear to become 

 bewildered, great patience and skill are necessary to 

 make a successful stalk upon them. In seeking for 

 them, the sportsman must be guided entirely by not 

 only the season of the year but by its severity, if on 

 the western prairies, where I have seen them in 

 immense numbers ; the day or two preceding the 

 freezing up of the sloughs they are certain to be found 

 in abundance ; again, in spring, immediately after 

 thaw has commenced. 



. From their delicacy of flavour, they are much 

 sought after; but their destruction is inconsiderable 

 from the reason I have above stated ; however, drainage 

 and agriculture are certain ultimately to drive them 

 from what are now their favourite haunts. 



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 seaboard 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 abundant to, make them for 



