The Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America: A Vade Mecum for the Naturalist and the Sportsman |
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Common terms and phrases
adult female American Eider autumn moult AUTUMN PLUMAGE av'ge axillars Baldpate base of bill birds Black Duck blackish Blue-winged Teal Brant breast breeding grounds brownish black buff buffy Canada Goose Canvas-back chest Chief distinguishing features Cinnamon Teal coast COLLOQUIAL NAMES Colour Plate coot darker Diving Ducks Downy Young dusky brown eclipse plumage edged eggs feathers feeding feet FIELD MARKS flight flocks Gadwall Geese greater coverts Greater Scaup Green-winged Teal greyish brown Harlequin Duck head and neck hind toe King Eider Lesser Scaup MAIN RANGES Breeding Mallard mandible Merganser middle coverts migration mottled moult nest North patch Pintail RANGES Breeding Winter Redhead Ross's Goose Ruddy Duck rump scapulars SCIENTIFIC NAME Scoter sexes sides species SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION subfamily Surf Scoter Swans tail tertials tips toe with lobe toe without lobe usually vermiculated waterfowl webs White-winged Scoter whitish widgeon wing Wing-spread Wood Duck young male
Popular passages
Page 74 - Will you not allow that I have as much of the spirit of prophecy in me as the swans ? For they, when they perceive that they must die, having sung all their life long, do then sing more than ever, rejoicing in the thought that they are about to go away to the god whose ministers they are.
Page 75 - I am a member, in company with a friend, a number of swan passed over us at a considerable height. We fired at them, and one splendid bird was mortally hurt. On receiving his wound the wings became fixed and he commenced at once his song, which was continued until the water was reached, nearly half a mile away. I am perfectly familiar with every note a swan is accustomed to utter, but never before nor since have I heard any like those sung by this stricken bird. Most plaintive in character and musical...
Page 225 - The female, as if not unwilling to manifest the desire to please which she really feels, ewims close by his side, now and then caresses him by touching his feathers with her bill, and shows displeasure toward any other of her sex that may come near. Soon the happy pair separate from the rest, repeat every now and then their caresses, and at length, having sealed the conjugal compact, fly off to the woods to search for a large woodpecker's hole.
Page 306 - Arctic seas, had made it their peculiar homestead ; their progeny, already fully fledged and voracious, crowded the guano-whitened rocks; and the mothers, with long necks and gaping yellow bills, swooped above the peaceful shallows of the eiders, carrying off the young birds, seemingly just as their wants required. The gull would gobble up and swallow a young elder in less time than It takes me to describe the act.
Page 78 - Only the younger are savory, and the gunners might well have spared the adult birds, but it was " sport " to kill them and fashion called for swan's-down. The large size of this bird and its conspicuousness have served, as in the case of the whooping crane, to make it a -shining mark, and the trumpetings that were once heard over the breadth of a great continent, as the long converging lines drove on from zone to zone, will soon be heard no more.
Page 148 - The path of migration of this goose seems to be different from that of any other species. It is a fair presumption that the principal route coincides with the districts in which the species is most common. The greater number pass from the breeding grounds to Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca, continue south to central and western Montana, and then turn southwest, cross the Rocky Mountains, and pass to central and southern California.
Page 87 - ... hundred curious ways. At this moment fierce jealousy urges the defeated gander to renew his efforts to obtain his love : he advances apace, his eye glowing with the fire of rage ; he shakes his broad wings, ruffles up his whole plumage, and as he rushes on the foe hisses with the intensity of anger. The whole flock seems to stand amazed, and opening up a space, the birds gather round to view, the combat. The bold bird who has been caressing his mate, scarcely deigns to take notice of his foe,...
Page 76 - Boast a Swan. Take three pounds of beef, beat fine in a mortar, Put it into the Swan — that is, when you've caught her. Some pepper, salt, mace, some nutmeg, an onion, Will heighten the flavour in Gourmand's opinion. Then tie it up tight with a small piece of tape, That the gravy and other things may not escape. A meal paste, rather stiff, should be laid on the breast, And some whited-brown paper should cover the rest. Fifteen minutes at least ere the Swan you take down, Pull the paste off' the...
Page 130 - October sun he may have his attention attracted by sweet, faint, distant sounds, interrupted at first, and then gradually coming nearer and clearer, yet still only a murmur ; the rider hears it from above, before, behind and all around, faintly sweet and musically discordant, always softened by distance, like the sound of far-off harps, of sweet bells jangled, of the distant baying of mellow-voiced hounds. Looking up into the sky above him he sees the serene blue far on high, flecked with tiny white...
Page 159 - In 1916 (fig. 26) the peak during the last half of May and the first half of June was accounted for largely by the increase in the diatoms during this interval.