Duck-shooting 115 



New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas, 

 south to the West Indies and Mexico, and in Oregon and 

 California. Accidental in Europe and Bermuda. 



Any hunter could well repent his ruthlessness 

 as he holds in his hand the dead wood-drake, 

 and wish him alive and back again, a beautiful 

 ornament to woodland waters. The stream, where 

 it broadens into quiet water, well protected by a 

 thick growth of alders, or some old mill-pond 

 back in the woods, long since deserted, will miss 

 him. Here he spent the late spring and early 

 summer with his mate, and saw the young brood 

 fledged. In October he brought them to the spot 

 where young oaks line the water's edge and hide 

 the swamp, affording their favorite food, acorns. 

 And now with October foliage at its height, when 

 cold nights warned him to push farther south and 

 take his charge, he falls, his splendid plumage 

 blood-stained. No bird less deserved the fate. 



Wood duck are found in the woodland dis- 

 tricts of the United States and Canada, north to 

 the 50th parallel. They arrive in New England 

 and the northern United States early in May, 

 and frequent the secluded streams and lakes. At 

 first in flocks of several, they soon separate and 

 each pair seeks a nesting-place. This is generally 

 the hollow of a tree or broken stump, rarely a 

 deserted crow's nest. The aperture is thirty or 

 forty feet from the ground and surprisingly small 



