windy, half moonlight night, provided the wind does not blow from you, as the Ducks may smell you; in fact, it is always necessary to get to the leeward of Wild Fowl of all kinds, as their power of scenting is very great. The English variety is easily "domesticated in places where there is plenty of water, and are much admired for their beauty, sprightly look, and frolicsome manners." The same is said of the American Widgeon.

Bald-Pates can be decoyed within gunshot by imitating their peculiar shrill note. Not apt to dart at Decoys off points, except in foggy weather. They are migratory, and breed in the North, on the coast of Hudson's Bay; they visit the rice fields of the South during the winter in considerable numbers, and are much esteemed by the planters as an article of food.

For further information on the subject of Widgeon, we beg to refer the reader to Colonel Hawker, the Magnus Apollo of Wild Fowl Shooting, as he has very justly been styled.

ANAS BOSCHAS. MALLARD, OR WILD DRAKE.

This widely disseminated Duck is known in almost every habitable part of the globe, and its flesh is alike esteemed in all parts; and wherever it makes its appearance, Sportsmen resort to all kinds of expedients to secure it. At a glance, it will be seen that the Wild Drake is the original stock from which is sprung the Puddle Duck of our barnyards, as they differ but little in plumage and general form. The wild Bird, however, is a much more noble-looking Fowl than those of the same race that have been enslaved by man; and instead of the silly, discordant quack! quack! quack! lazy waddle, and inactive life, and singular propensity for dabbling in the filthy oozes of the stable-yard, common to our domestic Duck, they pursue a cunning, silent, active, and free life.

DESCRIPTION.

"The Mallard, or Common Wild-Drake, is so universally known as scarcely to require a description. It measures twentyfour inches in length, by three feet in extent, and weighs up

wards of two pounds and a half; the bill is greenish-yellow; irides, hazel; head, and part of the neck, deep glossy changeable green, ending in a narrow collar of white; the rest of the neck and breast are of a dark purplish chestnut; lesser wingcoverts, brown ash; greater, crossed near the extremities with a band of white, and tipped with another of deep velvety black; below this lies the speculum, or beauty spot, of a rich and splendid light purple, with green and violet reflections, bounded on every side with black; quills, pale-brownish ash; back, brown, skirted with paler; scapulars, whitish, crossed with fine, undulating lines of black; rump and tail-coverts, black, glossed with green; tertials, very broad, and pointed at the ends; tail, consisting of eighteen feathers, whitish, centred with brown-ash, the four middle ones excepted, which are narrow, black, glossed with violet, remarkably concave, and curled upwards to a complete circle; belly and sides, a fine gray, crossed by an infinite number of fine, waving lines, stronger and more deeply marked as they approach the vent; legs and feet, orange-red.

The female has the plumage of the upper parts dark brown, broadly bordered with brownish-yellow; and the lower parts. yellow ochre, spotted and streaked with deep brown; the chin and throat, for about two inches, plain yellowish-white; wings, bill, and legs, nearly as in the male.

The windpipe of the male has a bony labyrinth, or bladderlike knob, puffing out from the left side. The intestines measure six feet, and are as wide as those of the Canvass-Back. The windpipe is of uniform diameter, until it enters the labyrinth."

Like most of Wild Fowl, the Mallard breeds in the far North, and makes its appearance in the Autumn among the first of our Ducks. It is common throughout all our rivers, and freshwater lakes, but is seldom met with on the sea-coast. As the winter progresses, large numbers continue South, and take up their abode among the rice fields of the Carolinas, where they become very fat and particularly palatable; their flesh at all times when the weather is not very severe is good, as they feed on vegetable matter in preference to any other kind of food, and only partake of fish when they cannot obtain anything else.

Mallards are easily brought within gunshot by means of Decoys, used in the way already described under the head of Canvass-Backs. They are numerous at times on the Delaware, and numbers are killed by Shooters hiding themselves in boats and the reeds within range of their Stool-Ducks, which are set out on the edge of the reeds. They are very fond of the seeds of the wild oats that flourish so profusely on the flats of the Delaware, and their flesh soon becomes delicate and juicy.

In England and on the Continent many singular contrivances have been invented to entrap these Birds, and so successful are the Fowlers now in this lucrative business that many hundreds are often taken at one draw of the net.

The most destructive way of trapping Mallards is the plan adopted on the Decoy ponds of England and France, a full account of which may be found in Bewick's British Birds.

ANAS MARILLA. SCAUP DUCK, OR BLACK-HEAD.

This species is much better known as the Black-Head, or Blue-Bill; in fact, the term Scaup is never applied to it by Sportsmen, and few, if any, of our Coast Shooters would be able to distinguish these Fowl by this name. The Black-Head is widely disseminated over our country; and a Duck very similar both in its habits and plumage, though a trifle larger, is well known in England and throughout the Continent. It is abundant during the Autumn on most of our rivers, and great numbers resort to the Chesapeake to feed on the Valisineria and other aquatic herbs of this region of abundance. When killed on these waters in the early part of the season, they are very fat, and their flesh tender and juicy, and entirely free from the fishy taste they are apt to acquire in other localities. They feed principally at night, and are said to be very partial to a small shell-fish called Scaup, from whence they derive their name. We have shot them very frequently in company with Canvass Backs, and under such circumstances always found them excellent eating; they should be split open in the back and broiled, with a particle of butter for dressing.

DESCRIPTION.

The length of the Blue-Bill is nineteen inches; extent twentynine inches; bill broad, generally of a light blue, sometimes of a dusky lead color; irides reddish; head tumid, covered with plumage of a dark glossy green, extending half-way down the neck; rest of the neck and breast black, spreading round to the back; back and scapulars white, thickly crossed with waving lines of black; lesser coverts dusky, powdered with veins of whitish; primaries and tertials brownish black; secondaries white, tipped with black, forming the speculum; rump and tail coverts black; tail short, rounded, and of a dusky brown: belly white, crossed near the vent with waving lines of ash; vent black; legs and feet dark slate.