A Bird's-Eye View 



he has never seen, and never expects to see, and 

 that has no more connection with the life- 

 history of the bird than has the transit of Ve- 

 nus — these microscopic, polysyllabic, and in- 

 comprehensible data he willingly relegates to 

 the enthusiast in skeletons. 



These two groups comprise all but three of 

 our species of ducks, and these form the third 

 or merganser group, found both in salt and 

 fresh water, but living largely upon fish, for 

 the capture of which they can swim under 

 water. While these are fine-looking birds, es- 

 pecially the ' ' hooded ' ' merganser, their fish 

 diet makes them even more unsavory than sea 

 ducks. 



One pleasure of studying water fowl, that is 

 seldom enjoyed when watching land birds, is 

 due to the large numbers in which almost every 

 species congregates, and the peculiar animation 

 that springs from multitudes. As compared 

 with other birds, the water fowl are very silent, 

 it is true; and, from this fact, they get the 

 reputation, among thoughtless people, of being 

 rold-blooded and undemonstrative. But one 

 finds the social instinct emphasized among them 

 quite as strongly as among the other species ; 

 and they illustrate the fact that individuals less 



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