Birds of Massachusetts. 243 
The food of the mallard consists of small fish, 
snails, water insects and plants, in fact, hardly any- 
thing 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 Gapwarr, Anas strepera, is an - 
inhabitant 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 Pintat, Duck, Anas acuta, is very abundant 
in some of the western states, but seldom seen on 
the coast, and never farther eastward than Massa- 
chusetts. It breeds in the fur countries, but on its 
return, follows the coast of the great western rivers, 
and is so much a stranger to the coast, that it must 
be regarded as an inland bird. It arrives from the 
north in autumn, in good condition, and resorts to 
ponds and streams, where it feeds on tadpoles, leeches, 
and beechnuts, should they happen to abound. It 
is graceful in its motions on the water, and Audubon 
says that its notes are soft and pleasant, not resem- 
bling those of the mallard, to which they are often 
compared. 
The American WiperoN, Anas Americana, breeds 
