. A popular handbook of the ornithology of the United States and Canada, based on Nuttall's Manual . ond gunshot, and then only take to wing whenmuch disturbed. In Carolina and the West Indies they fre-quent the rice-fields in flocks, and in Martinico are said todo considerable damage to the crops. When thus feeding incompany they have a sort of sentinel on the watch. At timesthey keep in covert until twilight, and are then traced by theirlow, guttural, and peculiar whistle, or luhew, whew, as well asother calls ; and their whistle is frequently imitated with successto entice them within gunsh
. A popular handbook of the ornithology of the United States and Canada, based on Nuttall's Manual . ond gunshot, and then only take to wing whenmuch disturbed. In Carolina and the West Indies they fre-quent the rice-fields in flocks, and in Martinico are said todo considerable damage to the crops. When thus feeding incompany they have a sort of sentinel on the watch. At timesthey keep in covert until twilight, and are then traced by theirlow, guttural, and peculiar whistle, or luhew, whew, as well asother calls ; and their whistle is frequently imitated with successto entice them within gunshot. They feed much in the win-ter upon aquatic vegetables, cropping the pond-weed as well asother kinds of freshwater plants and seeds, and sometimesdive and collect the roots and leaves of the sea-wrack. Although generally distributed throughout North America, theBaldpate rarely appears on the Atlantic coast excepting in winter,when it is found on the shores of the Southern States. It is atolerably common summer resident of Manitoba, writes ErnestThompson, and the bird is well known in WIDGEON. Anas penelope. Char. Adult male: mantle white, marked with fine lines of darkgray; shoulders white, followed by bar of black; wing-patch green;longer wing-feathers and tail dark brown ; head and neck chestnut, shad-ing to buff on the forehead and to black on the throat; breast gray, tingedwith rufous and shading to white below, which extends across the belly;sides marked with fine lines of dark gray; under tail-coverts black; billslate blue, tipped with black ; legs and feet dusky lead color. Soon afterthe mating season the male assumes plumage similar to the : upper parts grayish brown,— the feathers with paler margins ;under parts white, the breast buffish brown ; under tail-coverts barredwith brown ; wing-patch grayish brown. Length i8 inches. A^esL Concealed amid rank herbage or under a bush, on the margin ofa lake ; a deep bowl made of sedges and lined with
Size: 1906px × 1311px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherb, booksubjectbirds
