INTRODUCTION 23 



Individuals differ in their ability to raise the body from the ground or water, and old 

 specimens actually have slightly shorter wings than the young ones, and become 

 even more helpless. Various attempts to separate this species into two kinds, a 

 volant and a non-volant form, have thus far ended in failure. There is only one 

 wholly flightless species, namely, the Auckland Island Duck. 



Domestication almost immediately affects the wing-muscles of wild Mallards. 

 In two or three generations they become too lazy or too heavy to care about any long 

 flights. Under the same conditions the male Muscovy grows so heavy that he is 

 practically flightless, although the female remains fairly active. Most tropical and 

 sedentary species are slower on the wing than their northern relatives. 



Ducks do not assume the arrow type of flock as regularly as geese. Migrating 

 Mallards, Black Ducks, and many diving ducks fall into long wavering lines or very 

 blunt arrows, with scattering individuals stringing along inside the arc. There is 

 very little flock formation in wild-fowl when moving only short distances, and some 

 species, such as the Carolina Duck, seem always to fly in irregular, compact groups. 



DIURNAL MOVEMENTS 

 Ducks as a whole are naturally very active in the early morning, and again in the 

 evening, while much feeding is done on clear moonlight nights. Persecution has 

 greatly affected the habits of wild-fowl the world over, and it is rare now to find 

 ducks, except in far northern breeding grounds, carrying on their daily routine with- 

 out modification. Of course in well-protected areas before the shooting season opens, 

 one can gain a very good idea of natural habits. The daily movements of the flock 

 are again greatly altered during active migration. 



Surface-feeding ducks manage when necessary to find their food entirely by night, 

 except under great stress of storm and frost. Diving ducks must have some period 

 of daylight to feed, else they will eventually be driven from their wintering ground 

 to some more favorable location. With this end in view various communities and 

 many sportsmen's clubs have limited shooting to two, three, or four days each week. 

 It appears that Pochards and Scaups will under certain conditions feed at night, and 

 just how common this habit is remains to be found out. Golden-eyes, Scoters, and 

 Eiders are species which appear to feed entirely by day. 



WARINESS 

 All ducks that have survived in shot-over countries are more or less wild. Even 

 the ridiculously tame Ruddy is susceptible of some education, especially when he 

 keeps in large flocks. Originally all ducks must have been perfectly fearless in the 

 presence of man, and their confidence can even now be restored, for such a species as 

 our very highly educated Black Duck has in certain protected spots become so tame 

 as to allow himself to be caught by the hand. All our true fresh-water ducks become 



