Annual report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of the State of New York (1899) (14755138232)

Identifier: annualreportof6189919newy (find matches)
Title: Annual report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of the State of New York
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: New York (State). Forest, Fish and Game Commission
Subjects: Forests and forestry Fisheries Game and game-birds
Publisher: (Albany, N.Y. : The Commission)
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library



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g, and from the beat of its pinions comes that curious whirringsound so characteristic of many ducks; and its low, whistling note is decidedlymusical. It moves commonly in flocks, which, being comparatively compacted, offeran easy mark to the sportsman. In company with the pintail, the teals, the canvasback and at times other species,the Baldpate feeds on roots and seeds of grasses, insects, small fishes and the variousother similar articles of duck diet that the marsh affords ; adding to this whateverelse it may find to its taste in the damp or half-flooded fields which at times it visits.On the water it seeks its food commonly with head, neck and breast below thesurface, but rarely if ever dives, though it is said sometimes to rob the canvasbackof the coveted roots of the wild celery, the hard-earned fruits of the latters toil. The vast interior of the American continent, from the northern United Statesnorthward, is the regular breeding ground of the Baldpate, though occasionally at
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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 495 least it rears its young as far to the southward as Texas. During May or June thenest is constructed, not near the water, as is the habit of many ducks, but commonlyon dry land, on the ground among trees, and is an inconsequential affair — merelya depression among the leaves, thickly lined with down which the female issaid to use to cover the eight to twelve plain buffy white eggs whenever, afterincubation has begun, she has occasion to leave the nest. When yet unable tofly, the little ducklings resort to the shores of grassy ponds or lakes, wherethe parent watches solicitously over theirwelfare until they are able to care forthemselves. So great variation exists in the color ofthis bird that one description can scarcelybe made adequate, but the adult male is asfollows: About 21 inches in length and 32in extent of wing; the forehead and crownare white, or nearly so; on the side of thehead from the eye to the back of the neckis a broad dark metal