The Baldpate 



or else through seizing the foliage of various water-weeds, among them 

 "Widgeon grass" (Ruppia maritima). But these birds have also built 

 up a cleverer and less defensible system of foraging. With shameless 

 effrontery they follow the diving operations of some of the more expert 

 species of water-fowl, especially the Canvasbacks, Lesser Scaups, and 

 Coots, and seize their winnings on the first moment of their victim's 

 emergence. In this way they enjoy both "sport" and booty, and the 

 sapidity of their flesh is at least equal to that of their hard-working 

 dupes. All this and very much more the sportsman can tell us. 



The second way to pursue the acquaintance of ducks is the way 

 of the bird-student. Armed, of necessity, with a pair of high-powered 

 binoculars, he spies upon the ducks as they gather along the shores of 

 some protected lagoon, preening and snoozing and gabbling by turns, 

 or else as they huddle apprehensively toward the center of some less 

 certainly protected lake or reservoir, heads up, and peeping appre- 

 hensively. The student has a pained consciousness that he is sitting 

 at the second table, so far as knowledge of the ducks is concerned, and 

 that through no fault of his the birds are behaving in a strained or artificial 



mJk 



yr- IWmff^^^i 



Taken in Modoc County 



Photo by the A uthor 



NEST AND EGGS OF AMERICAN WIGEON 



I/64 



