SUMMER DUCK, OR WOOD DUCK. 
203 
seen the female, the spring preceding, carry down 
^/•'teen young, one hy one, in less than ten minutes. 
**y wing or back of the 
and landed them safely at the foot of the tree, 
eiice she afterwards led them to the water. Under 
In'* tl'® t‘'"® * visited it, a large sloop lay 
Hj me stocks, nearly finished, the deck was not more 
j ttrelve feet distant from the nest, yet notvvith- 
pves®'*®® “®''*® of tke workmen, the 
■ " 0“*'^ "Of abandon their old breeding place, but 
H,„'*'0iued to pass out and in, as if no person had been 
jji'l’’- The male usually pendied on an adjoining limb, 
Oftl watch while the female teas laying, and also 
i( [*'' 'vliile she was sitting. A tame goose had chosen 
t ojlow space at the root of the same tree, to lay and 
yh her young in. 
(Ijf®® summer duck seldom flies in flocks of more than 
Or four individuals together, and most commonly 
j,^Pair.s, or singly. The common note of the drake is 
\^*'Pect; hut when, standing sentinel, ho sees danger, 
?(i Jj'skes a noise not unlike the crowing (tf a young 
Their food consists principally of 
in y'js, seeds of the teild oats, and insects. Their flesh 
'derior to that of the hluc-winged teal. 
^Oent in the markets of Philadelphia. 
Of^'oong other gaudy feathers n ith which the Indians 
b,, *’heut the calumet or pipe of peace, the skin of the 
Cd ® ."tnd neck of the summer duck is frequently seen 
the stem. 
L >is beautiful bird has often been tamed, and soon 
Vijjd'ss so familiar as to permit one to stroke its back 
tke hand. 1 have seen individuals so tamed in 
tf ,?ds parts of the I.Tnion. Captain Boyer, collector 
Vf “ port of Havre-de-Urace, informs me, that about 
They are 
years ago, a Mr Nathan Nicols, who lived on the 
Mde of Gunpowder Creek, had a whole ya"jd 
toi^ 'd'ng with summer ducks, which he had tamed a?.M 
I^.Pjetely domesticated, so that they bred and were as 
ho. dar as any other tame fowls ; that he (Captain 
f*®) himself saw them in that state, but does no 
