BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 41 
spring consists largely of aquatic larvae, and of molluscs with 
the succulent roots of fresh water vegetation; and in the 
autumn of wild rice and domestic grains, to which should be 
added considerable mast after the acorns have fallen. They 
seldom resort to the smaller lakes and ponds after raising their 
broods, but are found in the larger ones, and notably in the 
vicinage of timber lands. Their distribution is not uniform by 
any means, and about as difficult to ascertain as that of a great 
number of avian species as sparingly represented. What pro- 
portion of them go further north to breed it is difficult to even 
conjecture, but doubtless much the larger. They disappear in 
the fall migration somewhat earlier than do the Mallards. I 
ought to have said before that the nest is a large, compact one, 
and constructed of grasses and weeds, over which are imposed 
the duck’s own feathers. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill greenish; feet red; body generally blackish-brown; the 
feathers obscurely margined with reddish-brown; those anteri- 
orly with a concealed V-shaped mark, more or less visible 
on the sides of the breast; head and neck brownish-yellow, 
spotted with black; top of the head and nape, dark brown, 
with a green gloss on the sides behind; wings dull blackish, 
with a dull greenish gloss; speculum violet, terminated with 
black; inner tertials hoary gray towards the tips; axillaries 
and inside of wing white; tail of eighteen feathers; iris dark 
brown. 
Length, 22; wing, 12; tarsus, 1.80; commissure, 2.56. 
Habitat, eastern North America, west to Utah and Texas. 
ANAS STREPERA. L. (135.) 
GADWALL. 
No species of the Duck family is a more regular resident, 
often reaching the State by the 25th of March, and found on 
favorite streams late in November. They are quite a numerous 
species and fly in compact flocks of about a dozen, rarely more, 
which is easily recognized by the experienced gunner at con- 
siderable distance by the distinctive character of their move- 
ments on the wing. Like the Mallards and many other species 
of the ducks, they live upon aquatic plants, both blades and 
roots, larvae, water beetles, mollusks, wild rice, and the vari- 
ous grains of the farmer’s fields, to get which they fly long 
distances both at night and during the day. 
The nests are found on the ground, in marshes skirting 
