The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-10-13
THE WIDOW

and dear relatives as an object 0
pity. They think 200 acres devoted
to the breeding of wild game birds i
a little heavy. We try to consol'
ourselves sometimes by the stories
we get off from the farm, and thinl
in a way that some of them may pay
for the heavy loads of bird seed tha
drive in the gate.
The wild wood duck, the mos
beautiful of all ducks that fly thu
North American continent. migrate
in winter into Central and SoutE
America. They are trapped there il
large numbers and shipped to En-
rope, and it is easier for you to pur
chase them in any numbers in Eu
rope than it is in America. We have
a rule at the farm, when shipment:
of water fowl arrive, the foremar
takes and counts off the seven 1ighl
feathers at the point Of one wing
then with a stout pair of shears he
clips off that joint known as the
flight joint. 1t doesn't disfgure the
bird and they never make an attempt
alter that to fly, and can therefore be
kept in open top fields or ponds, Oh
aviaries as the case may be.
In pinioning shipment of wood
ducks that arrived one day, he ne
elected to hit the bone of one of the
males wings. just clipping off the
feathers instead, SO that when it shed
out those stubs during the summer
and new feathers grew in the fall, he
was once more full winged. At that
time Prof. Woods, of the Smithso-
nian Institute, Washington, was our
guest he had been there for several
days studying the habits of the birds
and animals; hurrying home one fall
evening, the professor asked me if I
knew that there was wood duck
there with full wings, male. I
told him that 1 did, and we walked
down to the edge of the pond, few
feet from the house, to watch him as
he was flying over the pond, evident
ly exercising himself, training for the
migratory sesson.
said, Professor, I have been
watching him for some days, and it
has given me new line of thought.
1 am wondering if the migratory
habit or season is stronger than true
love, because he is very happily
mated with little duck with pin
ioned wing" Prof. Woods said,
That's strange, have been think
ing on the very same thing today,
and believe he will leave her in the
fall little later" I asked the pro-
fessor if he thought it would ever
come back, and he said he might, but
if he did, he would likely come with
some other fellows wife.
When Prof. Woods left for Wash
ington few days later, he asked me
to note carefully what did happen,
and let him know. / am sorry that
/ don't know the exact day he left.
although I was keeping close watch,
but on the I7th of November no.
ticed this very beautiful little widow
floating around over the pond, mel
ancholy and alone. Her plumage
had actually taken on darker cast,
giving her the effect of widows
weeds. There were many other va
rieties of ducks on the pond, and
among them many wood ducks. and
among the wood ducks were four
males with pinioned wings without
wives, whose only show in life lay if
some fellow was kind enough or
thoughtful enough to die or desert.
This was their opportunity, and they
swan up by her and showed off their
finest plumage, to which she return
ed not glance.
All winter long this went on. She
wouldn't eat with the common herd,
and had to be fed alone. She was
waiting. waiting like Madam Butter
fly. for one to return. had forgot
ten about her, almost, when spring
came.
On the tenth of April. peacocks
and many of the varieties of phea-
SAINTS gave the cry of hawks. Look
ing up we saw speck in the sky,
and as it came closer, the wild ducks
on the pond and the cranes made
loud noises, calling, circling closer
and closer, and finally skating out on
to the water surface, we saw, just as
he raised his crest and whistled, that
it was a large, wild wood duck.
Hurrying across the pond, about a
sixteenth of a mile away, came, as
fast as she could scramble over the
surface of the water, this beautiful
little widow, until she left crease
on the surface that don't think was
obliterated for some days.
Such happiness. and demonstra-
tions of affection, I doubt if you have
ever seen in the human race. They
climbed into one of the little rustic
houses provided for them to nest in
Just above the waters surface. They
couldn find a house beautiful enough
to build the nest they evidently had
in mind. A new idea came to him.
and he turned in and whipped every
duck, goose and crane on the pond,
and came back to her and stuck out
his little red, speckled chest, and told
her how easy it would be if she would
only let him winter in the south.
1t was in July. when a very dear
friend of mine came to the farm, Mr..
Hatch, the proprietor of Lord & Tay.
lor. He said to me, "before you
show me anything, I want to see
that little widow" 1 said to him,
"Mr. Hatch, am satisfied that
that's her in this bevy of wood ducks
that's swimming towards US. think
that's her whose husband is SO po-
lite, who is bowling in front of her.
I'll toss a clod and if he should fly
up then the duck that he has left at
his side is the little widow" I toss
ed the clod, and sure enough it was.
He few up eight or ten feet, and lit
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