Aix swonsa 
(P,) 
T 889. 
Maine. 
isl-v'-/ i/Lfr**-*} a ■ 
/ 
L. Umbagog. 
view of them they presented such a singular appearance that 
I was sometime in making up my mind that they were really 
Pucks; in fact they looked much more like shapeless masses 
of drift which had become attached to the branch. 
Take the Black Duck the Wood Duck when wounded invar¬ 
iably goes ashore as soon as possible. It sometimes stops 
and hides only a few yards from the water if there is good 
cover, but several birds this autumn went two or three hund¬ 
red yards back into the woods. One crossed a slight ridge 
and descending into,a bollow on the other sice concealer 
itself among some long grass. My nog followed its trail 
and when he. came up with it attempted to catch it, but it. 
fluttered off over the surface of the pool ana / just as he 
was about to overtake it ,dove. The water was not over a 
foot deep and perfectly clear while there were no-wasW 'eeds 
or brush on the bottom or about the edges of the pond; but 
despite these facts this duck was never seen again. The 
dog hunted several times about the edge of the pond , with¬ 
out finding any scent y thus showing conclusively that the 
Duck did not leave the water, I was at loss to conceive 
where it had gone, cfor I v/aded all over the pond, examining 
the bottom carefully without discovering it- A wounded. n ood 
Duck whey; swimming , for lbe-shore is a curious looking ob- 
ject A Tt sinks its body Antil it shows only the line of the 
back and the top of the head above the surface and swims 
rather slowly. Unless shot at or pursued by a dog it 
does not dive, but making straight for the nearest grass or 
bushes, lands and disappears. At Umbapog it is a better 
bird on the table than the Black Duck, its flesh being ten¬ 
derer and much sweeter.. The adult males after they have ac¬ 
quired the full plumage are almost invariably very fat. 
