Sea and Bay Ducks 



the feathers on the upper parts more or less edged with buff 

 in summer. 

 Range — " In North America, south to the Potomac and the Ohio 

 (more rarely to Florida and Texas) and California; breeds 

 northward." — A. O. U. 



Season — Common winter resident in northern United States; 

 November to April. 



Like a crowd of gossiping old women these ducks gabble 

 and scold among themselves all the year round, for in winter, 

 when most voices are hushed, they are the noisiest birds that 

 visit us. In summer, they nest so far north that none but Arctic 

 travellers may hope to study them. Mr. George Clarke, of the 

 Peary expedition, writes of "the old squaw's clanging call'' 

 ringing out from the drifting ice cakes where the drakes glided 

 about at no great distance from their brooding mates. South, 

 south, southerly, is the cry some people with more lively imag- 

 inations than accuracy of ear have heard ; but the Indians were 

 nearer right when they "called down" this high flyer with a 

 hah-ha-way, part of the full cry written by Mr. Mackay as o-onc- 

 o-onc-ough, egh-ough-egh. The other part is not very different 

 from the honk of a goose. Most of the duck's popular names, 

 as well as its scientific one, allude to its noisy, talkative habit. 

 At evening, and toward spring when the choice of mates in- 

 volves great discussion and quarrelling, they make more noise 

 than perhaps all our other sea fowl combined. 



The plumage of this duck varies so much with age, season, 

 and sex, that it is well we have some pronounced characteristics 

 to help us in naming our bird correctly. The long tail feathers 

 of the drake are its most striking feature; but the obscure-looking 

 duck has little to distinguish her from the female harlequin, 

 except her white abdomen, which is usually concealed under 

 water. 



When migrating from the icy regions that they haunt after 

 all other ducks have left for the south, the old squaws proceed 

 by degrees no faster than Jack Frost compels ; so that in season 

 as in plumage they are apt to be exceedingly variable, an open 

 winter keeping them north until late, and a cold autumn driving 

 them from the ice-bound waters to seek their fish, mollusks, and 

 water wrack in the open channels of our larger lakes and rivers 

 and the inlets of the sea. Maritime ducks these certainly are by 



126 



