322 FEATHERED GAME 
When the ducklings have arrived and gained 
a little strength the parent bird takes them in 
her beak and carries them to the nearest pond, 
unless, as is often the case, the nest overhangs 
the water, when she saves herself this trouble 
by simply pushing them overboard. Then she 
shows them how to get a living. There are 
often a dozen in a family, so that it is fortunate 
that they have only to reach out and take what 
they want to eat, otherwise the mother might 
have a hard time of it in providing for her nu- 
merous progeny, for the male bird usually de- 
serts his mate at this time, leaving to her all the 
family cares. The drake spends the summer 
moulting season away from home with other 
recreant husbands, and is hardly to be recog- 
nized as the same gaudy bird of the spring. 
About the first of September, the young birds 
having by this time become well grown and 
strong and the males again joining the flocks, 
the Wood Ducks begin to scatter about from 
their breeding grounds, a few at a time, the 
main body waiting until colder weather forces 
them from their summer homes, when they start 
for their winter quarters in the southern tiers 
of States, occasionally going beyond. They 
