CHAPTER V 



DUCKS AND GEESE 



We have three classes of ducks. The Mergansers, or Shell- 

 drakes, are fish ducks. Both the upper and lower man- 

 dibles are deeph' notched with barbs, which enable the 

 birds to capture fish while swimming with great rapidity 

 beneath the surface of the water. 



Fresh Water, or Pond and River, Ducks possess broad 

 strainer bills, and the fourth or hind toe is without any 

 lobe. These are the mallard, teal, shoveller, baldpate, pin- 

 tail, wood duck, gadwall, and black duck. This family 

 feed or dip in shallow water or wade about the margins 

 of pools and ponds. They are all game birds, and are 

 more edible than the deep-water ducks. 



Sea, or Deep-water, Ducks have a conspicuous flap on 

 the hind toe. While possessing a strainer bill, they feed 

 less upon vegetable life than the pond ducks, and are 

 partial to small fish and other marine life. Thej' occur 

 both on the coasts and in the interior. The redhead, can- 

 vas-back, scaup, bufflehead, old squaw, harlequin, eider, 

 scoters, and ruddj' ducks are all classed as sea ducks. The 

 speculum, the bright feathers on the wing, is the same for 

 all seasons and all ages of the same kind of ducks. 



Geese are larger than ducks, and more graceful upon 

 land. They also differ from the ducks because the plu- 

 mage of geese is practically the same in both sexes. 



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