. The birds of Ohio; a complete scientific and popular description of the 320 species of birds found in the state . sed the Ducks rise with a great outcry, in which the femalevoice is recognized as being a little the loudest, and they make off with rapidstrong wing-strokes, which can carry them, it is believed, a hundred milesan hour. It is diffi-cult, owingto the ex-treme catitiondisplayed bythe parentbirds, to esti-m at e thenumberbreeding atpresent in ourstate. Cer-tainly it bearsno compari-s o n withthose to beobserved fiftyyears ago;but as cer-tainly. Mallards do breed with us still, and
. The birds of Ohio; a complete scientific and popular description of the 320 species of birds found in the state . sed the Ducks rise with a great outcry, in which the femalevoice is recognized as being a little the loudest, and they make off with rapidstrong wing-strokes, which can carry them, it is believed, a hundred milesan hour. It is diffi-cult, owingto the ex-treme catitiondisplayed bythe parentbirds, to esti-m at e thenumberbreeding atpresent in ourstate. Cer-tainly it bearsno compari-s o n withthose to beobserved fiftyyears ago;but as cer-tainly. Mallards do breed with us still, and in unexpected localities. A swift-winged female crossing a principal street in Oberlin on a June evening, gaveme a momentary sense of the existence of an underworld, whose craft andcunning are hidden from the eyes of men. The Mallards mate in March or early April, the female depositing hereggs in some grass-lined depression of a low-lying meadow, or at the edgeof the woods, never far from water, but seldom at the waters edge, as is thehabit of some. With the completion of the set, the male proceeds into volun-. Taken near Sandusky. Photo by the Author. VIEW LOOKING WEST FROM THE NEW LAKE BIOLOGICALLABORATORY.(Under the auspices of the Ohio State University.) MANY SPECIES OF DUCKS USED TO NEST HERE. 584 THE BLACK DUCK. tary exile and renounces all domestic ties, while he undergoes a tedious andpainful double moult. The female, left to herself, sits closely upon her eggs,—so closely,indeed, as occasionally to admit of capture by the hand, and she leaves the nestonly after nightfall. At the end of four weeks the ducklings are broughtoff and led to water, where they become expert swimmers and divers, andlearn above all things to^ secrete themselves instantly upon the maternal noteof warning. Those who have not tested their eyes by trying to gather upa hatful of ducklings while a distracted mother limped and quacked in thedistance, have either never been boys or else have fallen u
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1903
