Ducks, GEESE, AND SWANS. 249 
and noise of the workmen, the ducks would not abandon thei: old 
breeding-place, but continued to pass out and in as if no person had 
been near. ‘The male usually perched on an adjoining limb and 
kept watch while the female was laying, and also often while she 
was sitting. .. . 
““The Summer-duck seldom flies in flocks of more than three or 
four individuals together, and most commonly in pairs, or singly. 
The common note of the drake is feet, peet,; but when, standing 
sentinel, he sees danger, he makes a noise not unlike the crowing of 
a young cock, oe eek/ oe eek! Their food consists principally of 
acorns, seeds of the wild oats, and insects. . . . 
“Among other gaudy feathers with which the Indians ornament 
the calumet, or pipe of peace, the skin of the head and neck of the 
Summer-duck is frequently seen covering the stem.” 
It is not strange that the wood-duck should have 
strongly attracted the attention of the Indians. Its 
wondrous beauty naturally appealed to a savage 
people fond of personal decoration and bright colors. 
They carved the head of this duck in steatite as an 
ornamental smoking-pipe, and we find it also moulded 
in clay in the elaborate pottery of the mound-builders. 
Of our black duck, so common on inland waters 
as well as the ‘“‘ ponds” of our sea-coast marshes, Ord, 
the biographer of Wilson, remarks,— 
“Of all our ducks this is perhaps the most sagacious and the most 
fearful of man. In the neighborhood of Philadelphia they are found 
in great numbers; they are, notwithstanding, hard to be obtained, in 
consequence of their extreme vigilance and their peculiar habits. 
During the day they chiefly abandon the marshes and float in consid- 
erable bodies on the Delaware, taking their repose with the usual 
precaution of employing wakeful sentinels to give notice of danger. 
In the evening they resort to the muddy flats and shores, and occupy 
themselves throughout the greater part of the night in seeking for 
food. When searching out their feeding-grounds every individual 
is on the alert, and on the slightest appearance of an enemy the whole 
mount and scatter, in such a manner that in a flock of a hundred it 
