River and Pond Ducks 



Among the earliest arrivals from the horde of water-fowl 

 that follow the food supply from the far north into the United 

 States every autumn, the green-wings are exceedingly abundant 

 in the fresh water lakes and ponds of the interior, and less so on 

 the salt water lagoons and creeks of the coast until frost locks up 

 the celery, sedges, wild rice, berries, seeds of grasses, tadpoles, 

 and the various kinds of insects on which they commonly feed. 

 Then the teals go into winter quarters, and as they pass in small, 

 densely packed companies overhead, the peculiar reed-like whis- 

 tling of their swift wings may be plainly heard. Old sportsmen 

 tell of clouds of ducks, numbering countless thousands, but 

 they best know why such flights are gone forever from the 

 United States. 



The selfish, dandified drakes, that have spent their summer 

 putting on an extra suit of handsome feathers and living an idle 

 life of pleasure while their mates attended to all the nursery duties, 

 leave them to find their way south as best they may, while they 

 pursue a separate course. In the spring the teals are, perhaps, the 

 easiest ducks to decoy. To watch the gallantries and antics of 

 the drake in the spring, when he proudly swims round and round 

 his coy little sweetheart, uttering his soft whistle of endearment, 

 no one would accuse him of total indifference to her later. 

 Happily, she is self reliant, dutiful to her young, courageous, re- 

 sourceful. As a brood may consist of from six to sixteen duck- 

 lings, the mother does not lack company during the autumn 

 migration, though she must often pay heavy toll to the gunners 

 in every state she passes through. Were she not among the 

 most prolific of birds, doubtless the species would be extinct 

 to-day. Happily this duck is a mark for experts only ; for, with 

 a spring from the water, it is at once launched in the air on a 

 flight so rapid that few sportsmen reckon it correctly in taking 

 aim. When wounded, the teal plunges below the water, or 

 when pursued by a hawk ; but it rarely, if ever, dives for food, 

 the "tipping-up " process of securing roots of water plants in 

 shallow waters answering the purpose. Occasionally one sees 

 a flock of teals sunning themselves on sandy flats and bogs, 

 preening their feathers, or dozing in the heat of noon; then the 

 hunter picks them off by the dozen at a time; but ordinarily 

 these birds keep well screened in the grasses at the edges of the 

 waters until twilight. While, like most other ducks, they are 



104 



