Evening star., 1922-02-12
Wood Duck Comes Back.

geous, glorious plumage Is COM
ing back In some parts Of the coun-
try it has come back. Americans who
like birds for humanity's sake and for
the grace and beauty Of birds are
glad, and American hunters who like
birds for the sport they provide are
glad. but their shooting propensities
will be restrained.
1t is the wood duck that has come
back. 1t is sometimes called the sum-
mer duck. but it also has fancy. SCI
entiflc name, and it Is a fancy bird.
Many of you have never seen a wood
duck, but in lakes, in public gardens
and in geological parks you have
seen that Chinese duck. called the
mandarin duck, gorgeous in its plu-
mage Of lustrous. shimmering me
tallic" green. glistening bronze. pea
cock blue. shining velvety black and
purple. and buff and white, with rings.
lines and bars of different colors, all
symmetrically ordered. SO curious
and regular are its markings that
some of you have thought perhaps
that the duck was designed by a man
with a riotous fancy or that the duck
had been hand painted or hand-dyed
after some pattern seen in a dream.
Well, the mandarin duck is the only
foreign cousin of the American wood
duck and very much resembles it.
Because of the beneficent working
OF the federal law for the protection
of game birds, this bird has shown a,
remarkable Comeback" in many Sec
tions OF the country. and reports to
this effect have gone to the Ameri-
can Game Protective Association. This
duck. unlike the mallard. canvasback,
redhead and other classic ducks, is a.
fresh water and not a seagoing duck.
1t swims and dives in lakes. ponds
and rivers often a thousand miles
from the seacoast 1t feeds on insects.
snails. mussels, tadpoles. small fish.
acorns. berries. nuts. wild grapes. rice
and other things.
When not playing and feeding in
the water it lives in the woods and
hence the name wood duck" and it
does not migrate~to the far north in
summer, but remains at home, and
hence the name summer duck" 1t
builds it's nest in the hollow-of tree
or q broken limb or tree top. 1t flies
as easily and swiftly as many land
birds, and makes it's flight as grace
fully as a pigeon and almost as si-
lently as an owl. 1t lines it's nest
with feathers moss and small dried
plants. and in a season lays from six
to fifteen eggs, bun and greenish in
color and two inches long and an inch
and a half thick. The full-grown bird
averages nineteen inches in length,
with a wing-spread Of twenty to
twenty-one inches. 1t has a mark
edly hooked bill and short, wedge
shaped tail.
Its babies or its ducklings swim
and run as soon as Matched and eat
flies, most other insects and small
seeds. They learn to fly at a very
early age. Old hunters tell that they
have seen the old birds take a batch
of the young ones on their back and
ny from the woods to the water, and
there, on taking alarm. or on deter
mining that it was time to go home
the little ones take position on moth
er's back or papa's back and are
swiftly transported to the family nest
Few game birds are SO strangely
elaborately and. let US say, beauti.
fully marked as the wood duck. and
I, it's friends-and most persons who
know this bird are it's friends-are
| glad to hear that it is coming back
1t was threatened with extinction and
! had been almost exterminated when
the federal game law took its part
Its flesh is good to eat. and, beins
! "easy shooting" it was an easy marx
to hunters.