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Galveston Bay. Many of them had paired and separated from the other ducks; and I was 

 assured that this species breeds there, as does the Dusky Duck, the Mallard, the Blue-winged 

 Teal, the Widgeon, and the Shoveller, the young of all these species being plentiful in the end 

 of June and beginning of July. I was satisfied as to the truth of the repeated assurances I had 

 received on this subject, by observing the manners of individuals of all these species before my 

 departure from that country. After a continuance of rainy weather, Gadwalls are found in great 

 numbers on the vast prairies of Oppelousas and Attacapas, where I have been told they continue 

 until very late in spring, and some remain to breed." 



In its habits the Gadwall bears considerable affinity to the Mallard ; and the female resembles 

 the female of that species very closely, but may always be readily distinguished by the white on 

 the wing. It is shy, though scarcely so much so as the Mallard. It is essentially a freshwater 

 duck, and frequents the streams, lakes, and inland ponds wherever suitable food is to be found 

 and it is not exposed to persecution. It feeds chiefly on vegetable matter, leaves, buds, and roots 

 of several water-plants, the latter of which it procures, not by diving, but by reaching down in 

 the water, the tail being straight up in the air and the head held down perpendicularly. When 

 in this position they are most easily shot ; and when hidden at the edge of a piece of water I 

 have often waited until the ducks commenced feeding and turned end upwards, when I have 

 made a most effectual pot shot amongst them. When undisturbed and feeding they are noisy 

 and keep up a low quacking, which almost sounds like a note of satisfaction. Not only, how- 

 ever, does it feed on vegetable matter, but also on all sorts of water-insects, small shell-fish, frogs, 

 and frog-spawn, and even on very small fish. In the late summer and autumn, when the seeds of 

 the various water-plants are ripe, it visits places where these seeds are plentiful, and feeds on 

 them. Naumann writes that it " feeds on seeds of several sorts of Pomatogeton, as for instance 

 P. pectinatus and P. marinus, the seeds of which it procures by fetching up the sprays of the 

 plant to the surface and picking them off. It is especially fond of the seeds of the manna-grass 

 (Festuca fluitans), and is likewise partial to oats and, in the southern countries, rice. When in 

 confinement it eats oats, bread, pieces of cabbage, turnips, and potatoes." 



Its flight resembles that of the Mallard, but is, if any thing, swifter ; and it rises and drops 

 from or on the water or land with great ease and celerity. 



In Germany, Naumann states, the Gadwall commences to leave about the end of September, 

 the major portion, however, not migrating before October; and should the season be mild, a few 

 remain until late in November. In March and April they reappear, often arriving in large flocks, 

 though not in such numbers as the Widgeon, which arrives about the same time. Small flocks 

 of eight or ten individuals are more often seen than single pairs ; but, on the other hand, as 

 large flocks as from thirty to fifty individuals are more seldom observed. When on migration 

 they usually fly by night at a considerable altitude, and their call-note is often uttered. 



The Gadwall breeds throughout Central and Southern Europe, making a nest much like 

 that of the Mallard, close to the water's edge, near freshwater lakes or streams, and depositing 

 in it from nine to thirteen eggs. Mr. Meves describes a nest, found in Upland by Mr. Engelhart, 

 as being placed under a bush about a dozen yards from the shore of the lake, and consisting of 

 a depression in the soil lined with a few dry leaves and some down ; another was in a meadow 

 about fifty yards from the water, and was made of dry grass and lined with down. Dr. E. 



