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GADWALL DUCK. 
ANAS STREPERA, LINN. 
PLATE CCCXLVIII. Maze anp Femate. 
I wave met with this species along the whole of our Atlantic 
coast, from Eastport in Maine to Texas. It is, however, more abun- 
dant in the interior than in most of our maritime districts, and is 
particularly so on the tributaries of the Ohio, Missouri, and Missis- 
sippi. In the early part of autumn and late in spring many are found 
on the margins of our great lakes. Yet the Gadwall has been repre- 
sented as not plentiful in the United States, probably on account of 
its being generally dispersed, and not congregated in particular dis- 
tricts. 
The Creoles of Louisiana name it “ Violon,” on account of the 
whistling sound of its wings. It arrives in the neighbourhood of New 
Orleans and the mouths of the Mississippi along with the Widgeon, 
and is fond of the company of the Red-head, to which it is about equal 
as an article of food. The Gadwalls are usually seen in small flocks, 
_and during winter resort to the larger lakes and the pools in the inte- 
rior of the great marshes, adjoining the waters of the Gulf. In that 
part of the country they feed on small fish, insects, and aquatic grasses. 
Fewer of them are found in Massachusetts and the State of New York 
than elsewhere, and this probably on account of these districts being 
more elevated and less marshy than those farther south. My friend 
Dr Bacuman informs me that they are rather plentiful in South Caro- 
lina, where they are considered good eating, and where they arrive in 
the beginning of October, but are more frequently met with at that sea- 
son, and in early spring, than during winter, when a single individual 
may sometimes be seen in a flock of other ducks. 
While we were in the Texas, in the latter part of April and the 
beginning of May, we found the Gadwall quite abundant on all the 
inland ponds and streams, as well as on the brackish pools and inlets 
of the islands and shores of Galveston Bay. Many of them had paired 
and separated from the other ducks; and I was assured that this spe- 
cies breeds there, as does the Dusky Duck, the Mallard, the Blue- 
VOL. IV. Z 
