File:A history of the game birds, wild fowl and shore birds of Massachusetts and adjacent states, including those used for food which have disappeared since the settlement of the country, and those which (14564617708).jpg

Identifier: historyofgamebir00for (find matches)
Title: A history of the game birds, wild fowl and shore birds of Massachusetts and adjacent states, including those used for food which have disappeared since the settlement of the country, and those which are now hunted for food or sport, with observations on their former abundance and recent decrease in numbers; also the means for conserving those still in existence
Year: 1916 (1910s)
Authors: Forbush, Edward Howe, 1858-1929 Massachusetts. State Board of Agriculture
Subjects: Game and game-birds Game and game-birds Birds Birds
Publisher: (Boston, Wright & Potter Printing Company, State Printers
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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in the water, and thatseveral young, which seemed to be clinging to her back, allfell ofl^ into the water as she alighted on the surface. Mr.Lyman Pearson of Newbury, Mass., says that he saw a WoodDuck once carry her young to the water. He thought thatshe carried them on her feathers. The destruction of thelarge and heavy timber does away with many a hollow limb,and the wood-cutter has been one factor in the decrease ofthe Wood Duck. Mr. J. J. Coburn of Worcester told meyears ago that he once found a female of this species dead ina stovepipe leading from a stove in his boat-building estab-lishment at Lake Quinsigamond. The bird had entered thepipe easily when looking for a nesting site, but could not getout, and I have heard of other similar cases. Dr. John C.Phillips of Wenham, Mass., says that a female Wood Duckcame down a chimney of his camp at Wenham and was founddead inside, and he has heard of another instance of the samesort. A few nesting boxes put up in the trees about a pond
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II BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. Ill may induce Wood Ducks to nest there. This device is oftensuccessful, and I have seen a Wood Duck family that wasreared in a nest of this kind. Where they are unmolestedthey become tame. A family once frequented a small pondwithin a hundred yards of my house, and a pair bred in a citypark several seasons. The Wood Duck is a surface feeder. Most of its food isobtained in shallow water or on shore. It takes both vege-table and animal food, insects, chestnuts, acorns, etc. Bay and Sea Ducks (Subfamily Fuligulinae). The Ducks of this subfamily may be distinguished fromthe Mergansers by the broad bill, and from the River Ducksby the lobe or flap on the hind toe(Fig. 6), and the habit of diving fortheir food. This habit will not distin-guish them from the Mergansers norfrom the Grebes, Loons or other divingbirds. To identify Ducks in the field astrong field glass or a small telescope isnecessary, particularly with the Bay and Fig. 6. — Foot of Sea Duc

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