230 The Water-fowl Family 



grasses. By the middle of July the young are 

 hatched and the family take to the water. The 

 bird first appears within our limits in September, 

 arriving in small flocks of from ten to thirty, the 

 young birds accompanying the old. They fly in 

 lines and wedges, making a great deal of noise, a 

 sort of discordant cackle. The flock is usually 

 heard before it is seen. When a suitable feeding- 

 ground has been selected, which is often a wheat 

 stubble, the birds frequent it until the food supply 

 is exhausted, or a few shots have made them wise. 

 They quickly learn danger and become exceed- 

 ingly wary ; sentinels are appointed, and if once 

 disturbed while feeding, seldom return to the same 

 field. They make frequent trips to neighboring 

 waters for a drink and rest, their flight announced 

 by the loudest din ; on these journeys, early in the 

 morning and in the evening, their chosen time for 

 moving, many of them are killed. It is usually 

 an easy matter for the hunter to select his posi- 

 tion, as the line of flight varies but little. The 

 first small flocks are seen in the late afternoon. 

 From then on until dark they come in continu- 

 ous stream, all following in the same straight 

 course. Occasionally the bird is killed from pits 

 dug on the feeding-grounds, and sometimes it will 

 hail to Canada geese decoys. The food of this bird 

 consists of various water-grasses ; in Kentucky, of 

 beechnuts and acorns. Where opportunity af- 



