Ornithological biography, Vol. 4 (of 5)

by John James Audubon

Length to end of tail 17 1/2 inches, to end of claws 18 1/4, to end of wings 15 1/2; extent of wings 27; bill along the ridge 1 3 1/2/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1 7 1/2/12; wing from flexure 7 3/4; tail 3 1/2; tarsus 1 1 1/2/12; first toe 1/2, its claw 2/12; second toe 1 1/2, its claw 4/12, third toe 1 11/12, its claw 4 1/2/12; fourth toe 1 10/12, its claw 5/12. Weight 1 lb. 8 oz.

Adult Female. Plate CCCXLVII. Fig. 2.

The Female is much smaller. The feathers of the hind part of the head and neck are also elongated so as to form a crest. The bill, iris, and feet, are coloured as in the male. All the lower parts are white, excepting a broad band of light grey across the middle of the neck, and a narrow portion of the sides, which are of a deeper tint. There is a patch of brownish-black on the lore and beneath the eye; the upper part of the head and half of the hind neck, are light reddish-brown; the rest of the hind neck, and all the upper parts, bluish-grey, darker behind, and in the middle of the back approaching to black. The wings as in the male, that is black, with a large patch of white, and two narrow transverse bands of the same; the tail dusky grey.

Length to end of tail 15 1/4 inches, to end of claws 16 1/2, to end of wings 14 1/2; extent of wings 25. Weight 1 lb. 4 oz.

GADWALL DUCK.

Anas strepera, Linn.
PLATE CCCXLVIII. Male and Female.

I have met with this species along the whole of our Atlantic coast, from Eastport in Maine to Texas. It is, however, more abundant in the interior than in most of our maritime districts, and is particularly so on the tributaries of the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi. In the early part of autumn and late in spring many are found on the margins of our great lakes. Yet the Gadwall has been represented as not plentiful in the United States, probably on account of its being generally dispersed, and not congregated in particular districts.

The Creoles of Louisiana name it “Violon,” on account of the whistling sound of its wings. It arrives in the neighbourhood of New Orleans and the mouths of the Mississippi along with the Widgeon, and is fond of the company of the Red-head, to which it is about equal as an article of food. The Gadwalls are usually seen in small flocks, and during winter resort to the larger lakes and the pools in the interior of the great marshes, adjoining the waters of the Gulf. In that part of the country they feed on small fish, insects, and aquatic grasses. Fewer of them are found in Massachusetts and the State of New York than elsewhere, and this probably on account of these districts being more elevated and less marshy than those farther south. My friend Dr Bachman informs me that they are rather plentiful in South Carolina, where they are considered good eating, and where they arrive in the beginning of October, but are more frequently met with at that season, and in early spring, than during winter, when a single individual may sometimes be seen in a flock of other ducks.

While we were in the Texas, in the latter part of April and the beginning of May, we found the Gadwall quite abundant on all the inland ponds and streams, as well as on the brackish pools and inlets of the islands and shores of Galveston Bay. Many of them had paired and separated from the other ducks; and I was assured that this species breeds there, as does the Dusky Duck, the Mallard, the Blue-winged Teal, the Widgeon, and the Shoveller, the young of all these species being plentiful in the end of June and beginning of July. I was satisfied as to the truth of the repeated assurances I had received on this subject, by observing the manners of individuals of all these species before my departure from that country. After a continuance of rainy weather, Gadwalls are found in great numbers on the vast prairies of Oppelousas and Attacapas, where I have been told they continue until very late in spring, and some remain to breed.

This species dives well on occasion, especially on being wounded. At the appearance of danger, it rises on wing—whether from the ground or from the water—at a single spring, in the manner of the Mallard, and, like it also, ascends almost perpendicularly for several yards, after which it moves off in a direct course with great celerity. I have never seen it dive on seeing the flash of the gun; but when approached it always swims to the opposite part of the pond, and, when the danger increases, flies off. On being wounded, it sometimes by diving makes its escape among the grass, where it squats and remains concealed. It walks with ease, and prettily, often making incursions upon the land, when the ponds are not surrounded by trees, for the purpose of searching for food. It nibbles the tender shoots and blades of grasses with apparent pleasure, and will feed on beech-nuts, acorns, and seeds of all kinds of gramineæ, as well as on tadpoles, small fishes, and leeches. After rain it alights in the corn-fields, like the Mallard, and picks up the scattered grains of maize. The common notes or cry of the female have a considerable resemblance to those of the female Mallard; but the cry of the male is weaker as in that species.