NOTES ON THE WOOD-DUCK. 239 



In less than a minute, probably, I reached a point near 

 them and the spot at which they entered the water ; but 

 the old duck heard me, and with a loud " quack," unlike 

 the common quacking of a tame duck, away she new, 

 while the little ducklings, catching her meaning, dived, I 

 suppose, and hid in the bulrushes along the shore. At 

 any rate, I never saw either the young birds or the old 

 duck again. 



There is one fact, too, that has an important bearing 

 on this subject. It is well known to those who have 

 tried to rear young wood-ducks, that the newly-hatched 

 birds have long, sharp, really cat-like toe-nails ; and by 

 their aid the little ducklings, while yet bits of shell cling 

 to their backs, can clamber over the limbs of trees, and 

 up any almost perpendicular surface, if at all rough. I 

 have never compared their feet with those of other ducks, 

 but do know that their toe-nails are very sharp and render 

 climbing easy. 



It is a common practice in this neighborhood to search 

 for the nests of the wood-duck, and place the eggs under 

 a barn-yard fowl. Young ducks, thus reared, become 

 quite tame, but it is considered necessary, as soon as the 

 young are hatched, to nip the points of their nails with 

 a pair of scissors. Unless this is done, the old women 

 that " 'tend poultry " say the young ducks will climb up 

 any wood-work and seek out the nearest water. I was a 

 little skeptical on this point at first, but have been con- 

 vinced, having seen a brood of young ducks climb up 

 rough boards a distance of three feet, and let themselves 

 down on the other side. These boards were worse than 

 perpendicular ; they leaned over toward the ducks. So 

 it matters not where the nest happens to be, as no tree is 

 so smooth that, by hook or by crook, the young wood- 

 ducks could not get down, even if the old birds did not 

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