. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Mallard February, the folly of "spring shooting" is self-evident. The courtship, however, is mild-mannered enough, at least according to Dr. C. W. Townsend's able account:1 "When the Mallard drake courts, he swims restlessly about following or sidling up to a duck. She may lead him quite a chase before she vouch- safes to acknowledge his presence, although he is continually bowing to her, bobbing his head up and down in nervous j
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Mallard February, the folly of "spring shooting" is self-evident. The courtship, however, is mild-mannered enough, at least according to Dr. C. W. Townsend's able account:1 "When the Mallard drake courts, he swims restlessly about following or sidling up to a duck. She may lead him quite a chase before she vouch- safes to acknowledge his presence, although he is continually bowing to her, bobbing his head up and down in nervous jerks so that the yellow bill dips into the water for a quar- ter of its length and comes up dripping. He also rears himself up in the water and from time to time displays his breast. She occasionally turns her head to one side and care- lessly dabbles her bill in the water, but sooner or later, if all goes well, she begins to bow also, less vigorously at first—not touching the water at all —and to the empty space in front of her. Sudden- ly she turns and the pair bow to each other in the same energetic nervous jerks; and, unless a rival appears to spoil the situ- ation, the drake has won his ; In nesting the female Mallard can accommodate herself to a great diversity of situations. Normally a careless accumulation of grasses and reed- stalks in the drier portion of a swamp will suffice. If, however, the 'Auk. Vol. XXXIII., Jan. 1016, p. 13. '756. Taken in San Bernardino County Photo by Wright M. Pierce FEMALE MALLARD ON NEST. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Dawson, William Leon, 1873-1928; Dickey, Donald R. (Donald Ryder), 1887-1932; Pierce, Wright M; Finley, William L. (William Lovell), 1876-1953; Brooks, Allan, 1869-1946. San Diego ; Los Angeles ; San Francisco : South Moulton
Size: 1310px × 1907px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
