4i BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



In Mississippi Sound, November 12-26, 1915, I found this 

 bird fairly common, frequenting the bayous near Bayou 

 Labatre and on Coffee and Petit Bois Islands. 



General habits. — In the breeding season this little duck in- 

 habits timbered swamps and river bottoms, placing its nest 

 in a hollow limb of a tree, usually over the water. In winter 

 it frequents not only the rivers and sloughs of the interior, 

 but lives also in the shallow muddy bayous on the coast 

 marshes. The birds are wary and expert divers and if sur- 

 prised at close quarters will often disappear beneath the 

 water before the hunter can raise his gun to his shoulder. 

 A wounded bird will often escape, too, by diving and remain- 

 ing for a long period beneath the surface. This species flies 

 very swiftly, often with an undulatory motion of head and 

 neck. Its notes are harsh, somewhat resembling the barking 

 of a young puppy. 



Food habits. — The food of the hooded merganser, as indi- 

 cated by the contents of 6 stomachs examined from Alabama, 

 consists of crabs, shrimp, crawfish, small fishes, aquatic in- 

 sects, and seeds of the cotton gum (Nyssa aqvutica). 



MALLARD; GREEN-HEAD: Anas pMyrhyncha pMy- 

 rhyncha Linnaeus. 



State records. — The mallard, often called "greenhead" or 

 "English duck," is a common migrant throughout the State 

 and a moderately common winter resident, though much less 

 numerous than formerly. Avery records it from Greensboro 

 as a common winter resident, and Golsan noted it at Autauga- 

 ville from December 8, 1911, to January 12, 1912. McCor- 

 mack reports it abundant at Leighton during migration and 

 as occurring also in winter. In the Alabama River between 

 the mouth of the Tallapoosa and Selma in favorable seasons 

 the species often occurs in considerable numbers. Holt ob- 

 served hundreds on McConnell Island in the big swamp near 

 Carlton, February 28 to March 11, 1912, feeding in shallow 

 water backed up by the flooded river. It is usually plentiful 

 and sometimes abundant all winter in Mississippi Sound and 

 in the bays and bayous about the head of Mobile Bay. A 

 single bird was taken in a pond on Petit Bois Island, Novem- 



