BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 387 



are for a year or two, superior to the wild ones, but soon be- 

 come like the common ducks of the barnyard. The hybrids 

 raised between the Mallard and Muscovy, are said to be large 

 and afford excellent eating. 



The mallard has many of the properties of a nocturnal bird, 

 feeding and travelling more by night than by day. In the 

 dark, their flight is distinguished by the whistling of their 

 wings. They generally arrange themselves in the wedge 

 form to go to any distance, and never alight on any spot till 

 they have wheeled several times round it, to ascertain whether 

 it is safe to take possession ; except when under the command 

 of an experienced leader, who judges at once of the presence 

 of danger, and if he suspects none, strikes down without 

 hesitation upon the water. They then begin to bathe and 

 dress themselves before they go to the shore for food. After 

 this ceremony is over, some explore the mud for leeches, frogs, 

 or lizards ; others go into the woods for beechnuts and acorns, 

 moving round with prodigious cackling. If they hear a sound, 

 they know whether it is made by animals or not ,• if it is, 

 they go on with their employment ; but if it denotes that man 

 is at hand, they glide into the water, and put off to what they 

 consider a safe distance from the shore. 



The food of the mallard consists of small fish, snails, water 

 insects and plants, in fact, hardly anything seems to come 

 amiss. It delights in nuts and fruits, soon fattens on rice and 

 other grain, and has an appetite for food which any other bird 

 would regard as entirely uneatable. The young, when raised, 

 thrive on chopped fish. The mallard has the habit of patting 

 the ground with its feet to force worms out of their burrows. 



The Grey Duck or Gadwale, Anas strepera, is an inhabi- 

 tant of northern regions, and is believed to be rare in the United 

 States. Wilson found it in New York and Kentucky, and 

 some of the young birds are seen at times in the vicinity of 

 Boston. 



The Pintail Duck, Anas acuta, is very abundant in some 

 of the western states, but seldom seen on the coast, and never 



