fall. The Mallard is the ancestor of the 

 domestic duck, but in the barnyard it 

 seems to have lost many of its wild hab- 

 its. There, the drake does not mate for 

 life, but is decidedly polygamous. 



In "Water Birds of North America" 

 we find the following excellent descrip- 

 tion of some of the Mallard's habits : "It 

 walks with ease, and can even run with 

 considerable speed, or dive, if forced to 

 do so; but never dives in order to feed. 

 Its food consists chiefly of seeds of 

 grasses, fibrous roots of plants, 'worms, 

 mollusks, and insects. In feeding in 

 shallow water it keeps the hind part of 

 its body erect, while it searches the 

 muddy bottom with its bill. When 

 alarmed and made to fly, it utters a loud 

 quack, the cry of the female being the 

 louder. It feeds silently ; but after hun- 

 ger is appeased, it amuses itself with 

 various jabberings, swims about, moves 

 its head backward and forward, throws 

 the water over its back, shoots along the 

 surface, half flying, half running, and 

 seems quite playful. If alarmed, it 

 springs up at once with a bound, rises 

 obliquely to a considerable height, and 

 flies off with great speed, the wings pro- 

 ducing a whistling sound. It flies by 

 repeated flaps, without sailing or undula- 

 tions ; and when in full flight its speed is 



hardly less than a hundred miles an 

 hour." 



The nest of the Mallard is quite large 

 and loosely constructed with coarse 

 grasses, sedges, leaves, or any material 

 that may be near at hand and can be 

 easily scraped together into' a sheltered 

 place on the ground. While the ground 

 is the natural nesting place of this duck, 

 in very rare instances it has been known 

 to nest in trees, in the deserted home of 

 some large bird. The mother duck is a 

 close sitter and has been known to allow 

 herself to be lifted from the nest. When- 

 ever she does leave the nest she covers 

 the eggs with hay, feathers or any soft 

 material that may be near, and, as the 

 incubation period of about four weeks 

 draws to a close, she sits even more close- 

 ly and may not leave the nest for several 

 days. She is, indeed, a most faithful 

 mother and many touching incidents have 

 occurred which show that she is totally 

 forgetful of self and deeply attached to 

 her offspring. 



Mr. Maurice Thompson has said: "I 

 need not say to> the sportsman that the 

 Mallard is the king's own duck for the 

 table. The canvasback does not surpass 

 it. I have shot corn-fed Mallards whose 

 flesh was as sweet as that of a young 

 quail, and at the same time as choice as 

 that of the woodcock." 



MY LITTLE ROBIN RED. 



One morning I heard a great racket 

 among the birds in the back yard near 

 the porch. I ran out to see what the 

 trouble was, and found that a young 

 robin had fallen out of its nest to the 

 ground. The parents were almost wild 

 with anxiety. They had come close up 

 to the porch and perched themselves on 

 the clothes-line, flying by fits to the 

 ground, then back again to the clothes- 

 line, then to the fence. All this time they 

 kept up a great clatter, while the young 



bird flopped helplessly about on the 

 ground. They were joined by a catbird, 

 who, evidently, was as much excited as 

 they. He flew about, trying to give sym- 

 pathy it seemed, as assistance was quite 

 out of the question. 



I had always wanted a pet robin, and 

 I felt that my opportunity had come. So 

 many stories had been told me about 

 the attractiveness of tame robins, how 

 cunning and affectionate they were, that 

 I longed to have one. Slowly and quietly 



