The Pintail
Length up to thirty inches, though the body is not larger than a Mallard"s; but the neck is longer, and the two middle feathers of the tail are from five to nine inches long; these are slender and sharp, whence the name Pintail.
Male: head and neck dark-colored, with a long white stripe lengthwise on each side. Back and sides finely waved with black and gray. Breast and belly pure white. Feathers under the tail jet-black. Long inner feathers of the wing striped lengthwise with velvet-black and silver-gray. Mirror on the wing glittering purple or violet, framed with black, white, and buff.
Female: not so handsome as the Drake, and the middle tail-feathers so much shorter that she is not over two feet long; but the neck is longer and slenderer than usual in this family in proportion to her size.
A Citizen of North America and many other countries, more common in the interior of the United States than on the Atlantic coast; nesting from the middle districts far northward, wintering in the Southern States and far beyond. A fine Duck for the table.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Pintail.]
The Green-winged Teal
Length less than fifteen inches--all kinds of Teals are very small Ducks.
Male: head chestnut with black chin and a shining green patch on each side, and a little crest behind. Back and sides with fine wavy marks of black and gray. A curved white bar in front of the wing; mirror half purple and half green, bordered with black, white, and buff.
Under parts white, tinged with buff, with many round black spots; the feathers at the root of the tail black with a buff patch on each side.
Female: different from the male on the head and body, but the wings like his; besides, she is so small you cannot mistake her for any other kind of Duck.
A Citizen of North America, who nests from the Northern States northward and winters mostly in the Southern States or beyond. The flesh is delicious, and this Teal is so small it can be split and broiled like a spring Chicken.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Green-Winged Teal.]
The Blue-winged Teal
Length fifteen or sixteen inches--a little more than the Green-winged Teal, but not much.
Male: head dark-colored with a very large white bar on each side in front of the eye. Body much variegated with black, brown, and gray. Most of the outside of the wing sky-blue, not bright, but as the sky looks on a dull day; the beauty-spot shining green, bordered with black, white, and buff.
Under parts gray spotted and mottled with black, and quite black under the tail, where there is a white spot on each side; the lining of the wings mostly white.
Female: differs from the male on the head and body, but the markings of the wings are much the same as his.
A Citizen of North America, chiefly its eastern half, with a very extensive breeding range, but mostly seen in the United States during the migrations and in winter. The flesh is excellent.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Blue-Winged Teal.]
This Teal has a brother in the West, called the Cinnamon Teal from the color of his under parts.
The Redhead
Length twenty to twenty-three inches.
Male: head and upper part of neck rich chestnut with a bronze l.u.s.tre.
Rest of neck, fore back, and fore breast, black. Middle of back and sides of body finely waved with zigzag lines of black and white. Rump and tail-coverts black. No shining mirror on the wings, which are mostly ashy with white lining underneath.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Redhead]
Bill very broad and flat, dull blue with a black belt at the end. Feet grayish-blue, with dusky webs and claws. Eyes orange. Female: differs a good deal from the male, and it would make the table too long to tell all the difference; but she has the same markings on the wings, and the same shaped bill.
A Citizen of North America who goes far north to find his summer home, and is chiefly seen in the United States in winter or during the migrations. He is a twin brother of the Canvasback, and quite as good to eat. Very few persons can tell a Redhead from a Canvasback at the dinner table, though many think they can, because if the Redhead is in good order and well roasted, they say it is Canvasback, and if the Canvasback is tough and done too much, they say it is only a Redhead. Before the birds are plucked you can easily tell them apart; for the Canvasback has the head and beak differently shaped and much darker-colored; while the back is much whiter, because the black wavy lines are narrower than the white s.p.a.ces between them, or even broken up in fine dots.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Old Squaw]
Old Squaw
Length from eighteen to twenty-three inches, the difference being due to the tail of the male, which in summer has the middle feathers eight or nine inches long.
This Duck differs more in summer and winter plumages than any other. In winter, the only season it is seen in the United States, the male varied with black, white, and silvery-gray, the bill orange and black.
In summer he has much more black than white or silver, with some bright-reddish feathers on the wings. The bill is black and orange; the eyes are red.
A Citizen of North America and other parts of the northern hemisphere, never going very far south, and making his summer home in the Arctic regions. He is a noisy, lively, sociable Duck, who has in spring some pleasing notes, so mellow and musical that he may almost be said to sing; but he is not choice or dainty in his food, and the flesh is too rank for House People to eat. He has many absurd names besides "Old Squaw."
The Hooded Merganser
Length sixteen and a half to eighteen inches.
Male: a beautiful black and white crest rising up high in a rounded form, but very thin from side to side, like a hood ironed flat. Head, neck, and back black; belly and breast white; sides cinnamon-brown with fine black bars; a white mirror with black edges on the wing. Bill black, round like a lead-pencil, with a hook at the end, and strong saw-like teeth along the sides; eyes yellow.
Female: without any such crest as her mate has, and brown where he is black.
A Citizen of North America, very handsome and stylish when he is in full dress; but he is a Fishing Duck, and therefore not very good to eat, though not as rank as other Mergansers. Like the Wood Duck, but unlike nearly all other members of the Duck tribe, this Merganser builds his downy nest in a hollow tree or stump.
CHAPTER x.x.xI
GULLS AND TERNS AT HOME
[Ill.u.s.tration: Herring Gull.]
Gull Island was only a great sand heap, anch.o.r.ed by rocks and covered with coa.r.s.e gra.s.s; but the children had hardly taken a few steps along the beach when they began to exclaim at the number of strange birds.
Some were flying, others walking about on the sand, where there were many tufts of gra.s.s and mats of seaweeds that looked as if they had been used for nests. Dodo nearly stepped upon a couple of greenish, dark-spotted eggs, that were nearly as large as a Hen"s. "Are the Gulls still nesting, Uncle Roy? And what are those dark streaky birds over there?"
"These are left-over eggs that did not hatch, for nesting is over in July at latest, and the dark birds are young Gulls in their first plumage. They are brownish gray, streaked and spotted as you see, while the old birds are snow-white with pearl-gray backs, and black and white wing-markings in the summer, though their winter dress is not quite so pure, being streaked with gray on the neck."
"Then the very dark Gulls I have seen off our beach in winter are the young ones?" said Rap; "I never knew that before. I don"t believe many people remember how birds change their colors, and a great many never heard about it at all, I guess."
"Gulls walk very nicely," said Nat. "Much better than Ducks; and how they bob up and down like little boats when they float!"
"Wake! wake! wake! wake!" screamed half a dozen, flying up as if to tell the Brotherhood of the coming of strangers.