174 FIELD SHOOTING. 



of the tame ducks which lay greenish blue eggs. 

 The eggs of some sorts of tame ducks are a 

 shining white, as if glazed. The broods of young 

 mallards, the flappers, are first seen about the 

 10th of June. There are commonly from eight to 

 twelve in a brood. The little things are active 

 and cunning from the first. If they are pursued, 

 they dart swiftly under water, and, swimming 

 beneath to the bank, just put their bills above 

 the surface and lie quiet. When they are some- 

 what bigger, they go out upon the margins of 

 the streams and ponds, and hide in the grass. 

 About the middle of October the young mal- 

 lards are full grown and well feathered so as to 

 be able to "fly fast and far. The drake is a 

 little larger than the duck, and a large one will 

 weigh nearly three pounds. Widgeon and the 

 two kinds of teal also breed with us to some 

 extent, but their nests are seldom found. In the 

 Winnebago Swamp there are a few nests of the 

 broadbill or spoonbill. The pintail does not breed 

 with us, and 1 believe not on this side of the 

 arctic regions. 



If the winter is broken, the ducks begin to 

 arrive from the south by the middle of Feb- 

 ruary, and in an early spring they are found in 



