THE MALLARD. 241 



woods, and no doubt conducting them towards the Ohio. When I first saw 

 her, she had already observed me, and had squatted flat among the grass, 

 with her brood around her. As I moved onwards, she ruffled her feathers, 

 and hissed at me in the manner of a Goose, while the little ones scampered 

 off in all directions. I had an excellent dog, well instructed to catch young 

 birds without injuring them, and I ordered him to seek for them. On this 

 the mother took to wing, and flew through the woods as if about to fall down 

 at every yard or so. She passed and repassed over the dog, as if watching 

 the success of his search; and as one after another the ducklings were brought 

 to me, and struggled in my bird-bag, the distressed parent came to the ground 

 near me, rolled and tumbled about, and so affected me by her despair, that I 

 ordered my dog to lie down, while, with a pleasure that can be felt only by 

 those who are parents themselves, I restored to her the innocent brood, and 

 walked off. As I turned round to observe her, I really thought I could 

 perceive gratitude expressed in her eye; and a happier moment I never felt 

 while rambling in search of knowledge through the woods. 



In unfrequented parts, the Mallards feed both by day and by night; but in 

 places where they are much disturbed by gunners, they feed mostly by 

 night, or towards evening and about sunrise. In extremely cold weather, 

 they betake themselves to the sources of streams, and even to small springs, 

 where they may be found along with the American Snipe. At times, after 

 heavy falls of rain, they are seen searching for ground-worms over the corn- 

 fields, and during the latter part of autumn, the rice plantations of Georgia 

 and the Carolinas afford them excellent pasture grounds. I have thought 

 indeed that at this season these birds perform a second migration as it were, 

 for they then pour into the rice-fields by thousands from the interior. In 

 the Floridas, they are at times seen in such multitudes as to darken the air, 

 and the noise they make in rising from off a large submersed savannah, is 

 like the rumbling of thunder. So numerous were the Mallards while I was 

 at General Hernandez's in East Florida, that a single Negro whom that 

 gentlemen kept as a hunter, would shoot from fifty to a hundred and twenty 

 in a day, thus supplying the plantation with excellent food. 



The flight of the Mallard is swift, strong, and well sustained. It rises 

 either from the ground or from the water at a single spring, and flies almost 

 perpendicularly for ten or fifteen yards, or, if in a thick wood, until quite 

 above the tops of the tallest trees, after which it moves horizontally. If 

 alarmed, it never rises without uttering several quacks; but on other occa- 

 sions it usually leaves its place in silence. While travelling to any distance, 

 the whistling sound of their wings may be heard a great way off, more 

 especially in the quiet of night. Their progress through the air I have 

 thought might be estimated at a mile and a half in the minute; and I feel 



Vol. VI. 33 



