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RIVER AND POND DUCKS 
Black Ducks, Mallards, and other Anatince. The male is a striking 
bird in life, and can not be mistaken for any other species. 
The Smew {131.1 Mergellus albellus ), an Old World species, has been once 
recorded from the Hudson Bay region. (Salvadori, Cat. B. M., XXVII, 
468.) 
Subfamily Anatince . River and Pond Ducks. (Fig. 34a.) 
The Ducks of this subfamily are distinguished by the absence of a 
lobe on the hind-toe. They are, for the most part, northern breeding 
birds, and appear on our waters chiefly as migrants. At this time, they 
differ but little in habits, and, as a rule, frequent sluggish streams, shal- 
low ponds, arms of bays, and marshes. In comparison with the deep- 
water Fuligulince , they might be called ‘dabblers’ or ‘tip-ups,’ and 
any one who has seen them dabbling along the shore, or with upturned 
tail and head immersed, probing the bottom in shallow water, like a 
flock of animated tenpins, will recognize the appropriateness of these 
terms. They dive but little and when under water are said to use both 
feet and wings. They feed upon mollusks, crustaceans, insects and their 
larvse, the seeds and roots of aquatic plants. The ‘gutters’ on the sides 
of the bill act as strainers, and, after probing the bottom, the mere act 
of closing the bill forces out the mud and water taken in with the food. 
As a rule, they feed more commonly by night than by day. They do 
not gather in such large flocks as the Sea Ducks, and in our waters are 
generally found in groups of less than fifty. They spring from the water 
at a bound, and on whistling wing are soon beyond the fowler’s reach. 
Their highest speed is variously estimated, for different species, at 
from one hundred to one hundred and sixty miles an hour. Doubtless 
the first-named distance is nearer the truth. 
All our Anatince , but the Wood Duck, nest on the ground, lining 
a slight hollow with grasses, leaves, moss or rootlets, and with more or 
less down from the breast of the incubating bird, which is used to cover 
the eggs, doubtless for purposes of warmth, as well as concealment, 
during the absence of the sitter. The nesting-site is usually near water, 
but may be half a mile or more from the shore, and is sometimes in 
grass so scanty that the sitting bird may be plainly seen, but as a rule 
it is in denser vegetation or under bushes. 
The generally greenish, cream, or buff eggs, number from six to 
fourteen or rarely more, and hatch within a surprisingly short time of 
one another. Incubation is performed by the female alone. She sits 
close and springs from the nest at one’s feet in a most disconcerting 
manner, to flutter off through the grass or, with halting flight, make for 
the water, there to alight with much show of anxiety. The young are in 
the highest degree praccocial, leaving the nest almost as soon as they 
leave the egg, and under the guidance of their mother, at once taking to 
water. Few birds show more concern for the safety of their offspring 
than do Wild Ducks. When danger threatens, the young, evidently 
