DUSKY DUCK. 245 



successive days, we saw many of these Ducks, which, by their actions, 

 shewed that they also had nests. I may here state my belief, that the Gad- 

 wall, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, American Widgeon, 

 and Spoon-billed Duck, all breed in that country, as I observed them there 

 late in May, when they were evidently paired. How far this fact may 

 harmonize with the theories of writers respecting the migration of birds in 

 general, is more than I can at present stop to consider. I have found the 

 Black Duck breeding on lakes near the Mississippi, as far up as its confluence 

 with the Ohio, as well as in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and every one 

 acquainted with its habits will tell you, that it rears its young in all the 

 Eastern States intervening between that last mentioned and the St. Law- 

 rence, and is of not less frequent occurrence along the margins of all our 

 great lakes. It is even found on the Columbia river, and on the streams of 

 the Rocky Mountains; but as Dr. Richardson has not mentioned his having 

 observed it in Hudson's Bay or farther north, we may suppose that it does 

 not visit those countries. 



On arriving in Labrador, on the 17th June, 1S33, we found the Dusky 

 Ducks in the act of incubation, but for nearly a month after, met with no 

 young birds, which induced me to suppose that this species does not reach 

 that country at so early a period as many others, but lingers behind so as to 

 be nearly four weeks later than some of them. At the end of four weeks 

 after our arrival, all the females we met with had young broods, which they 

 led about the fresh-water ponds, and along their margins, either in search of 

 food, or to secure them from danger. None of these broods exceeded seven 

 or eight in number, and, at this early period of their life, we found them 

 covered with long soft down of a deep brown colour. When alarmed they 

 would dive with great celerity several times in succession, but soon became 

 fatigued, made for the shore, ran a few feet from the water, and squatted 

 among the grass, where they were easily caught either by some of our party, 

 or by the Gulls, which are constantly on the look-out for such dainty food. 

 At other times, as soon as the mother apprehends danger, she calls her young 

 around her, when the little things form themselves into a line in her wake, 

 and carefully follow her in all her movements. If a Hawk or a Gull make 

 a plunge towards them, she utters a loud cry of alarm, and then runs as it 

 were along the surface of the water, when the young dive as quick as 

 lightning, and do not rise again until they find themselves among the weeds 

 or the rocks along the shores. When they thus dive, they separate and 

 pursue different directions, and on reaching the land lie close among the 

 herbage until assured, by the well-known voice of their parent, that the 

 danger is' over. If they have often been disturbed in one pond, their anxious 

 mother leads them overland to another; but she never, I believe, conducts 



