MALLARD. 169 



Black Duck (Anasjmcn) and the Gadwal, the latter connection giving 

 rise to a very handsome hybrid, retaining the yellow feet and barred plu- 

 mage of the one, and the green head of the other parent. 



I have found the Mallard breeding on large prostrate and rotten logs, 

 three feet above the ground, and in the centre of a cane-brake, nearly a 

 mile distant from any water. Once I found a female leading her young- 

 through the woods, and no doubt conducting them towards the Ohio. 

 When I first saw her, she had already observed me, and had squatted 

 flat among the grass, with her brood around her. As I moved onwards, 

 she ruffled her feathers, and hissed at me in the manner of a goose, while 

 the little ones scampered off in all directions. I had an excellent dog, 

 well instructed to catch young birds without injuring them, and I ordered 

 him to seek for them. On this the mother took to wing, and flew through 

 the woods as if about to fall down at every yard or so. She passed and 

 repassed over the dog, as if watching the success of his search ; and as 

 one after another the ducklings were brought to me, and struggled in my 

 bird-bag, the distressed parent came to the ground near me, rolled and 

 tumbled about, and so affected me by her despair, that I ordered my dog 

 to lie down, while, with a pleasure that can be felt only by those who are 

 parents themselves, I restored to her the innocent brood, and walked off. 

 As I turned round to observe her, I really thought I could perceive gra- 

 titude expressed in her eye ; and a happier moment I never felt while 

 rambling in search of knowledge through the woods. 



In unfrequented parts, the Mallards feed both by day and by night ; 

 but in places where they are much disturbed by gunners, they feed most- 

 ly by night, or towards evening and about sunrise. In extremely cold 

 weather, they betake themselves to the sources of streams, and even to 

 small springs, where they may be found along with the American Snipe. 

 At times, after heavy falls of rain, they are seen searching for ground- 

 worms over the corn-fields, and during the latter part of autumn, the 

 rice plantations of Georgia and the Carolinas afford them excellent pas- 

 ture grounds. I have thought indeed that at this season these birds per- 

 form a second migration as it were, for they then pour into the rice-fields 

 by thousands from the interior. In the Floridas, they are at times seen 

 in such multitudes as to darken the air, and the noise they make in risino- 

 from off a large submersed savannah, is like the rumbling of thunder. So 

 numerous were the Mallards while I was at General Heknamdez's in 

 East Florida, that a single Negro whom that gentleman kept as a hunter, 



