346 
FOREST AND_STREAM« 
[Nov, tgdd. 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stheam, 
American Wildfowl and How to 
Take Them.-VIIL 
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELU 
\Continued from page 32T.] 
The True Ducks. 
The ducks may be distinguished from their relatives, the 
geese, by characters already indicated. The tarsus— that 
is to say, the naked portion of the leg between the joiiit 
where the feathers end and that where the toes begin — is 
covered in front by broad, overlapping scales, instead of 
by a naked skin, ornamented with small hexagonal 
scales. The ducks are usually smaller than the geese. 
They are also as a rule more highly colored, though this 
brilliancy prevails more in the males of the fresh-water 
ducks than in the sea ducks. Nevertheless, this is not 
the invariable rule, for the males of all the mergansers 
and such species of sea ducks as the eiders, the harlequin, 
the butterball and longtailed duck are extremely showy 
and beautiful birds. As a rule, the ducks have shorter 
necks and legs than the geese. 
It has long been known to naturalists and to a few 
gunners that in the mallard and some other ducks the 
males assume during the summer a plumage very diiTer- 
ent from that which they commonly wear during the 
autumn, winter and spring, and not unlike that of the 
female. This is not generally known, and even by 
ornithologists has not been at all understood. Re- 
cently, however, in the Proceedings of the Academy Qf 
Natural Science of Philadelphia, for the last quarter of 
1899, Mr. Witmer Stone, in a paper entitled "The Sum- 
mer Molt and Plumage of Certain Ducks," has discussed 
the subject in a very suggestive way. 
Mr. Stone calls attention to the fact that in only one of 
our ducks — the old squaw — does the adult male possess 
a distinct winter plumage which is dififerent from the 
breeding dress, that the old males of all our other ducks 
remain in the same plumage from the time they arrive in 
autumn till their departure northward in spring, and in- 
timates that, judging by analogy, we should suppose that 
since these ducks show no tendency toward a change of 
plumage when they leave us in the spring, they must re- 
tain the same feathers that covered them during the 
winter until the end of the breeding season, when a 
complete molt should occur and a new dress be assumed 
exactly like the one just shed. 
It is known, however, that this is not the fact, and as 
stated, the "plumage after the breeding season" has been 
described in some species. The first record of this 
peculiar summer plumage in the male ducks is found in 
the supplement to "Montague's Ornithological Diction- 
arj^" 1813, under the head of "The Pintail {DaMa acuta)." 
The observations made on some domesticated birds are 
given as follows: "In the month of June or beginning of 
July these birds commence their change of plumage, and 
by degrees, after making a singular mottled appearance, 
especially on the part of the bodj^ which was white be- 
fore, became by the first week in August entirely of a 
brown color. The beautiful bronze on the head, the white 
streak on each side of the neck, and all the white beneath, 
as well as the elegant scapulars." had entirely vanished, 
and to all appearance a sexual metamorphosis had taken 
place. But this change was of short duration, for about 
the latter end of September one of the males began to 
assume the masculine attire * * * and by the middle 
of October this bird was again in full plumage." 
Twenty-five years later the naturalist Waterton de- 
scribed a similar molt in the male mallard, and as time 
went on, other species Were found to undergo like 
changes. In Mr. Ridgway's "Manual of North American 
Birds," a number of species are given as having a 
peculiar summer plumage resembling the female. Such 
are the mallard, bluewing and cinnamon teal, the gad- 
wall, widgeon, pintail and scaup. On the whole, how- 
ever, very little is said in the books about this change. 
Mr. Stone's examination of four species of eider 
ducks brought back fi*om the Arctic by Mr. E. A. Mc- 
Ilhenny, and taken i:ear Point Barrow, in the late sum- 
mer or early autumn, leads Mr. Stone, to believe that in 
all ducks where the plumages of the male and female 
are markedly different we may expect to find this double 
molt and a dull summer plumage in the male. He 
points out that this summer plumage is in no sense a 
nuptial dress, and that, while it may begin to appear 
before the young birds are hatched, it is not seen until 
after the mating season is over, and is distinctly a post- 
nuptial dress. The change is chiefly restricted, to the 
head, neck, breast and scapulars; in other words, to 
those parts which arc most conspicuously colored. 
A very important point in connection with this sum- 
mer plumage is that the annual molt of the flight feathers 
does not begin until it has been fully acquired, and that 
as soon as the new flight feathers have become strong 
enough to be used, the dull plumage, as well as the re- 
mainder of the old plumage, is lost, the molt of the body 
feathers proceeding in the usual way. In other words, 
this didl plumage lasts only during the period while the 
birds are unable to fly, for, as is well understood, ducks 
molt the quill feathers of their wings all at once, and for 
a time lose the power of flight. Now at such a time a 
dull plumage would naturally be useful in rendering the 
bird inconspicuous, and thereby protecting" it, and Mr. 
Stone believes this to be the explanation of this curious 
summer molt. He adds that the feathers of this plumage 
are very poor and loosely constructed, like the "firgt" 
plumage of young birds, which is only a temporary sum- 
mer dress. 
Mr. Stone quotes European authors who have de- 
scribed eider ducks of different species in this dress, but 
have called them young males, evidently not appreciating 
the meaning of the change. He then goes on to de- 
scribe in detail this summer plumage in four species of 
Pacific eiders, and in the red-breasted merganser, from 
which it apnears that up to July the nuptial dress of the 
rnale is usually retained, but that by the latter part of 
August and lii feftriy September this "9tmini«?i' moUliig; 
plumage/' as Mt, Stone calls it, is fully assurhcd. 
Non-DivJog Ducks. 
Sub-Family /Inatina', 
As has already been said, the ducks are divided into 
three sub-families. Of these, the first is the Jnatince, 
or fresh-water ducks. One unvarying character of this 
group is that it has the hind toe simple, while in all the 
sea or diving ducks it is lobed. or provided with a loose 
membrane or flap. The feet of the fresh-water ducks, as 
a rule, are smaller than those of the sea ducks, formed 
more for progression on land than for swimming. The 
fresh-water ducks feed in shallow water, gathering their 
food from the bottom by stretching down their necks, or 
by tipping up the body, as do also the geese and the 
swans. They do not dive for food, though they often do 
so to escape from danger when wounded. As a rule they 
feed on vegetable matter, from which it results that their 
flesh is very palatable. As it is a fact, however, that all 
ducks are indiscriminate feeders, in cases where the fresh- 
water ducks have access to animal food their flesh readily 
acquires an mipleasant, fishy taste. There are thirteen 
or fourteen species of fresh-water ducks found in North 
America, most of which are familiar to gunners. Natural- 
ists are by no means agreed as to the proper nomen- 
clature to be applied to the different species in this 
group, but for the purposes of this work it will be suf- 
ficient to take that adopted by the American Ornitholo- 
gists' Union in its revised "Check List of North Ameri- 
can Birds." It is to be noted, however, that the order in 
which the species arranged is not that of the Check 
List. 
Mallard. 
Anas boschas (Linn.). 
In autumn, winter and spring the colors of the mallard 
are those of the common domestic duck, which is its 
descendant. , The head and neck are brilliant metallic 
green, sometimes showing golden and purple reflections, 
as the light strikes it differently. About the neck, below 
this green, is a narrow ring of white, usually broken at 
THE M.\LLARD. 
the back. The back is brown, or brownish gray, finely 
waved with grayish white, as are the inner scapular 
feathers, which darken to rich brown on the wing. The 
speculum, or wing patch, is violet, with metallic reflec- 
tions, crossed near the end with a black bar, and tipped 
with a white one. The rump and upper tail-coverts are 
black, and the tail white, each feather being grayish along 
the shaft The breast is deep glossy chestnut, and the 
other under parts' gray, waved with narrow black lines. 
The under tail-coverts are black. The bill is yellow- 
green, Avith a black nail, the eyes dark brown and the 
feet orange. The length is about 2 feet and the wing, 
from II to 12 inches. The summer dress of the male 
closely resembles that of the female, but is darker. This 
plumage is assumed in June and is lost again in August, 
when the winter dress is resumed. 
The female is colored much as the feinale of the tame 
duck; the feathers generally are dusky, with broad, pale 
yellow or buft' edges. On the upper parts the dark color 
predominates; on the lower, the buff, often almost to the 
exclusion of the blackish streaks. The wing patch is 
colored as in the male, as are the bill, feet and legs. The 
chin is almost white and the throat is buff. 
No one of our ducks has a wider range that the mal- 
lard, which, as has been said, is the progenitor of the 
common domestic duck. It is found over the entire 
northern portion of the world; and in America as far 
south as Mexico, while in Europe it breeds in southern 
Spain and Greece. It is believed to be common through- 
out Asia, except in tropical India, and it is more or less 
abundant in northern Africa. Although a luigratorj' 
bird, the mallard may usually be found throughout its 
range in winter, provided there is open water, and so 
a place where it may feed. In many places in the north-- 
ern Rocky Mountains, where the thermometer often goes 
to 30 or 40 degrees below zero, mallards may be found 
throughout the winter living in warm springs or along- 
swift streams where the current is so rapid that the 
water never freezes. Thus it is seen that the winter' ,s 
cold has little to do with the migration of the mallard — 
or, in fact, with that of many other ducks — and that, if 
food is plenty, the birds can bear almost any degree of 
cold. It is the freezing of the waters and thus the shut- 
ting off of the food supply that forces these inland birds 
to move southward. 
In the New England States the mallard is not a 
common bird, but in the Southern States, the interior 
and California it is extremely abundant. 
In the northern interior the mallard is shot from early 
October until the waters clo'se in November, ajid all 
through the winter it is-abundant in the Souther" \\3tes. 
Here it feeds in the marshes along the salt v, 1 the 
rice fields and along the sloughs and stream^ m.^iugh- 
out the interior, and becomes fat and well flavored, and 
is eagerly pursued. It comes readily to decoys, and if 
one or more live ducks are tethered with the decoys to 
call down the wild birds, they are quite certain to re-- 
spond and to ofifei' easy .tjli'oottn^ to ttw gwtinei*, l^'bmierly . 
the mallard bred in considerable numbers within- the 
limits of the United States, though it has never been a- 
common bird at any season on the x\tlantic coast north 
of New Yqrk. It formerly bred, however, in great 
numbers in' Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and 
Minnesota, as well as in the prairies of the further West 
and about alkaline lakes and pools on the high central 
plateau. Now most of the birds proceed further north 
to breed, and Canada, the Hudson's Bay country and the 
shores of the Arctic Sea are all occupied_ by it during 
the nesting season. Dr. Brewer states that "It has been 
known in rare instances to nest in a tree, in such cases 
occupying a deserted nest of a hawk, crow or other large 
bird." 
The mallard is one of our typical fresh-water ducks. 
It is rarely Or never found on salt water, but. on the 
other hand, is common on the lagoons along the south- 
ern Atlantic coast, which arc brackish. Here it asso- 
ciates with many other fresh-water ducks, and is fre- 
quently seen flying in ciTOipany with black ducks, S|)rig- 
tails, widgeons and other species. 
The mallard rises from the water by a single spring, 
almost straight up in the air, and then flies upward at a 
sharp angle, until it has reached a height of 30 OS 40 
leet, when it flies rapidly away. Its speed on the wing is 
considerable, and when coming before the wind it is 
necessary for the gunner to make considerable allowance 
to hit it. When the mallard ris^s on the water it usually 
utters several loud quacks of alarm, and when associated 
in companies, as it usually is, the birds keep up a more 
or less continuous conversation. When it is flying, its at- 
tention is readily attracted by an imitation of its note, and 
this call, made either with the mouth or with a certain 
instrument known as a duck call, is often used to lead it 
to observe the decoys. If it should see these, it is ex- 
tremely likely to come to them. 
This species readily hybridizes with certain other ducks. 
A hybrid supposed to be mallard and muscovy duck is 
common. So also is one between the mallard and the 
black duck, and of these I have killed a number. They 
bear a general resemblance to the black duck, but the 
head and neck are much darker and show glossy re- 
flections. Moreover, the crissum or anal region is jet 
black, as are the upper tail-coverts, and the male is likely 
to possess the recurved tail feathers which characterize 
the mallard drake. 
Many years ago, in Carbon county, Wyo., I killed a 
male hybrid between the mallard and pintail. In form 
it resembles the male pintail, but its head is blackish 
green, witli metallic reflections, almost the color of the 
male shoveler. Its breast is chestnut, and its back much 
like that of a mallard. The general effect is that of a 
male pintail with mallard coloring. 
Perhaps no one of our North American dnGk,s is so 
well known as the mallard, and yet it has coniparatively 
few common names. It is called greenhead, wild drake, 
wild duck, English duck, French duck and gray duck, or 
sometimes gray mallard for the female. In Canada the 
name stock duck was formerly common, referring evi- 
dently to this bird as a progenitor of the domestic duck. 
The French-Canadians call it canard Frangais, or French 
duck. Mr. Trumbull calls attention to the old but now 
obsolete duckinmallard. a word supposed to be a corrup- 
tion of duck and mallard, duck being the female and 
iTiallard the male. The word is thus the equivalent of 
duck and "drake, it having been the custom seemingly to 
speak of the species by this double name. 
Hunting Rifles. 
A NEIGHBOR has just returtied from a short trip a few 
miles north of here, bringing home a good-sized deer. 
He shot this deer with a ..30-30, using soft-nosed bullets. 
The first shot was at 55 yards, deer standing broadside. 
The bullet struck fair in the center of body, just back of 
heart. The deer dropped at once, but was on its feet 
and running in an instant. A second shot struck just 
back of ribs, ranging forward toward opposite shoulder. 
The deer then turned and ran down hill directly toward 
the shore, where a third shot broke its back. The hole 
where the bullet, which went through, came out is very 
little if any larger than where it went in. Neither of the 
other bullets went through. That which struck back of 
ribs was found near the shoulder, and had mushroomed 
to about one-third larger. The last bullet, which broke 
the back, could not found. Now I know from experience 
that -some deer require great deal more killing than 
others, yet the above shooting was certainly one prac- 
tical test of the rifle, and it did not prove its much 
vaunted kilHng powers. 
There are good points to the small bore niter lifles — 
lightness, absence of smoke, accuracy and fiat trajectory — 
yet according to such statements of practical woodsmen 
like the guide Braithwaite, of New Brunswick, more 
wounded game escapes than with much larger caliber. 
1 will say, however, that I have known of a number of 
instances Avhere deer have been shot through the body 
w'ith both 45 and 40 caliber solid bullets and got away, 
although followed for miles on snow. 
It is some years since I took up the hunting of big 
game, and I got a great deal of practical information 
ijy reading Van Dyke's "Still Hunter." I wanted a rifle 
which would kill at any distance I was likely to shoot 
while hunting in the woods. My choice was a .45-90 
Winchester half magazine, and 1 was so Well pleased 
with its work that I have used no other. I wanted some- 
thing, however, more killing than a ?olid bullet, and at 
first tried the hollow pointed express. I found after 
killing some deer that the bullet did not. as far as I could 
see, open at point, and sometimes when trying them at 
a target they woitld tip. I then got from the Winchester 
Company some Keene split-point bullets. T found them 
firlly as accurate at targets as solid bullets, and I after- 
wa5<Js killed the following game with them: Three 
mor»Si', five caribou, four bears and one deer. I used 
cightcon cartridges to kill the above, and three of the 
cartridges named used on the moose were not 
needed. None of the animals went fiftv yards from where 
first shot at, and in most instances dropped, at once or 
within a few yards. I did not try (in fact did not have 
to) any long range shooting, except once at a bear under 
luost tmfavorable couditiotis, and I was sorry for it, as 
