140 ZOOLUCaCAL GARDENS. 



without spots. The male does not share in the task 

 of incubation ; but flies abroad in search of food, while 

 the female tends her charge at home. They are parti- 

 cularly fond of the society of Ravens, but the latter 

 often carry off their eggs ; and the Falcons, Weasels, 

 and Martens, are dangerous enemies to their young. 

 When the young are hatched, both parents assist in 

 providing them with food until they are able to fly, and 

 bring them abundance of fish for their support. But 

 as soon as they become capable of a continued flight, 

 they are driven from the nest, and proceed each in a 

 separate direction to seek its own subsistence wherever 

 it may be most plentifully procured. 



The old birds quit their nests about the middle of 

 August, and wander from stream to stream and from 

 lake to lake, forming themselves into gradually increas- 

 ing bands as the colder season approaches. Towards 

 the beginning of September they are often met with in 

 companies of from twenty to thirty in a spot ; but as 

 soon as the frost sets in, they begin their migration to 

 the southward, taking their flight by moonlight, like 

 the Cranes, but not with the same order and regularity. 

 They return about the latter end of March, when the 

 severity of the season is no longer to be dreaded. Some 

 few, however, remain throughout the winter, especially 

 when the weather is variable, and are occasionally seen, 

 in company with the Wild Ducks, at the commence- 

 ment of a sudden thaw. They usually disappear with 

 the return of frost. 



Their food consists principally, like that of most of 

 the birds of the Wading Order, of fresh-water fishes, 

 but more particularly of the young fry of carp and 

 trout. In pursuit of these they wade gently into the 

 water, where the fish abound, and stand in it up to 

 their knees, (or rather to their knee, for they rest 



