268 Birds Every Child Should Know 
sportsmen in the fall, can be kept on a farm 
perfectly contented all winter; but when the 
honking flocks return from the south in March 
or April, they rarely resist “ the call of the wild,” 
and away they go toward their kin and freedom. 
WILD DUCKS 
Birds that spend their summers for the most 
part north of the United States and travel past 
us faster than the fastest automobile racer or 
locomotive — and an hundred miles an hour is 
not an uncommon speed for ducks to fly — ^need 
have little to fear, you might suppose. But so 
mercilessly are they hunted whenever they stop 
to rest, that few birds are more timid. 
River and pond ducks, that have the most 
delicious flavour because they feed on wild rice, 
celery and other dainty fare, frequent sluggish 
streams and shallow ponds. There they tip 
up their bodies in a funny way to probe about 
the muddy bottoms, their heads stuck down 
under water, their tails and flat, webbed feet 
in the air directly above them, just as you have 
seen barnyard ducks stand on their heads. 
They like to dabble along the shores, too, and 
draw out roots, worms, seeds and tiny shellfish 
imbedded in the banks. Of course they get a 
good deal of mud in their mouths^ but fortun- 
