2 The Water-fowl Family 



ered with a naked, scale-like skin, nicely adapting 

 the bird for water. The wings vary in length in 

 comparison to the body, but are commonly rather 

 short and specially strong, calculated for speedy, 

 powerful flight, making possible the long, tedious 

 migration peculiar to many of the species. The 

 plumage is thick and dense, consisting of short, 

 soft, outer feathers over a skin coating of down. 

 In many of the species the color is plain, and of 

 a protective character well suited to the haunts 

 of the bird — a condition which is regularly true 

 of the female and the young. 



The males of a number of varieties of ducks, 

 however, when full-plumaged in the late fall and 

 winter, are unsurpassed in beauty of coloring ; an 

 attire that is retained until incubation has begun. 

 About this time, the birds moult, the male assuming 

 a dress more or less closely resembling the female. 

 During the moulting period for a while many of 

 our water-fowl are helpless, the large pinions of 

 the wing having been lost. Now every protection 

 against the depredations of the natives and other 

 enemies is essential, and hence nature's provision 

 in the change of color. The males of many of 

 our water-fowl, after incubation has been estab- 

 lished, separate from the females, and gather by 

 themselves on neighboring bodies of water, where 

 greater security is afforded than the shores and 

 marshes selected for nesting purposes could give. 



