Duck

a swimming bird allied to the goose and swan. Three toes, extending forward, are webbed; the fourth toe is free. The edges of the bill are furnished with coarse serrations for holding food, or else fine ones for straining food out of water. Like all birds, and waterfowl in particular, the duck presses oil with the bill from a gland situated above the tail and dresses its feathers with care. Unless ruffled by the wind a duck's coat is water-proof. Ducks are birds of strong, swift flight. They are found all over the world. In the winter season they betake themselves southward and northward toward equatorial regions, at least far enough to insure open water. In the spring they return to nest. The typical duck's nest is saucer-shaped. It is started with coarse material and is finished with the finest down from the breast. When the duck leaves her eggs she protects them with a coverlet of feathers.

There are not less than forty well known species in North America. They may be classified under three heads: fish-eating ducks, pond and river ducks, and sea ducks. The most prominent members of the fish eating group are the sheldrake and hooded merganser. They live on fish. They pursue and capture their prey under water. The serrations of the bill enable them to hold a fish almost as well as an otter. Both the sheldrake and the merganser nest in hollow stumps or in holes in a bank. They prefer a wooded region.

The most prominent species of the river and pond ducks is the old time mallard. It ranges throughout the northern two-thirds of the world. The male has a glossy greenish or bluish-black head and throat, with a white ring around the neck. The breast is clad in rich chestnut; the belly in grayish white, marked with wavy black lines. The metallic green, pearl gray, and purple of the drake make him a handsome fellow, indeed. The duck is a modest looking lady dressed in brown streaked with black. The mallard is the finest of all ducks. It is considered the ancestor of nearly all our tame varieties. The shoveler or spoon-bill has a broad, spoon-shaped bill. It is provided with a strainer like that of a whale. Its plumage is almost as handsome as that of the mallard. It dislikes salt water.

The best of the small ducks of this group are the green-winged, the blue-winged, and cinnamon teal. They are easily approached, but fly with speed. Teal coming down the wind afford the hunter a difficult shot. It is believed that the teal is capable of flying at the rate of 100 miles an hour. Ordinarily teal are considered desirable game birds. In the northwest, however, especially along the Columbia River, they gorge themselves with carrion salmon, until they are worthless for the table. The black duck belongs to this group. The most beautiful of all American ducks are the pintail and wood duck. They rival the Chinese mandarin duck in beauty of plumage. The wood drake wears a glorious combination of green, blue, purple, chestnut, white, buff, and black. This species not only perches in trees, but nests at an elevation of from ten to forty feet above the ground. When the young are ready to leave the nest, the parent bird conveys them one by one in her bill to the water's edge.

The third group of ducks, the sea ducks, includes the scaup, scoter, golden-eye, harlequin and old squaw. The redhead and the canvas-back are familiar inland as well. The canvas-back is a favorite table duck. In the autumn, it feeds in the streams and marshes of the West. Its favorite food is a bulbous growth of eelgrass. The canvasback dives down into the water, seizes the eelgrass in its beak, pulls it up, bites off the bulb, and lets the stalk float away. The plant on which it feeds is erroneously called the wild celery, a plant to which it has no relationship. The traditional winter home of the canvas-back is Chesapeake Bay. The most noted of all the sea ducks is the eider-duck. It breeds far to the north. It excels all other ducks in lining its nest with an immense quantity of fine, downy feathers. The Eskimos gather these feathers for sale, being careful, however, not to disturb the ducks during the actual hatching season. About six or seven nests yield a pound of feathers.

Domestic ducks are too well known to require description. As stated, most breeds are derived from the handsome mallard. In eggs, feathers, and dressed meat, the American poultryman realizes about $7,000,000 a year from ducks. The duck is the most common fowl of China. Our white breeds are of Chinese origin.

See Bird; Goose; Swan; Poultry