It is by no means shy in the Western Country, where I have often found it associating with other species, which would leave the pond before it. Near the sea, however, it is much more wary, and this no doubt on account of the greater number of persons who there follow shooting as a regular and profitable employment. From the following note of my friend Dr Bachman, you may judge how easily this fine species might be domesticated.
“In the year 1812 I saw in Dutchess County, in the State of New York, at the house of a miller, a fine flock of ducks, to the number of at least thirty, which, from their peculiar appearance, struck me as differing from any I had before seen among the different varieties of the tame Duck. On inquiry, I was informed that three years before, a pair of these ducks had been captured in the mill pond, whether in a trap, or by being wounded, I cannot recollect. They were kept in the poultry-yard, and, it was said, were easily tamed. One joint of the wing was taken off, to prevent their flying away. In the following spring they were suffered to go into the pond, and they returned daily to the house to be fed. They built their nest on the edge of the pond, and reared a large brood. The young were perfectly reconciled to domestication, and made no attempts, even at the migratory season, to fly away, although their wings were perfect. In the following season they produced large broods. The family of the miller used them occasionally as food, and considered them equal in flavour to the common duck, and more easily raised. The old males were more beautiful than any that I have examined since; and as yet domestication had produced no variety in their plumage.”
The migration of this species extends to the Fur Countries, where it is said to breed. The description of a male killed on the Saskatchewan River, on the 22d of May 1827, is given in the Fauna Boreali-Americana; and I have a fine male procured by Dr Townsend on the Columbia River.
Anas strepera, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 200.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 859.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 383.
Gadwall, Anas strepera, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. viii. p. 120, pl. 71, fig. 1.—Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 440.
Gadwall or Grey, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 383.
Adult Male. Plate CCCXLVIII. Fig. 1.
Bill nearly as long as the head, deeper than broad at the base, depressed towards the end, the sides parallel, the tip rounded. Upper mandible with the frontal angles short and obtuse, the dorsal line at first sloping, then slightly concave and direct, the ridge broad and flat at the base, then broadly convex, the edges soft, with about fifty internal lamellæ, the unguis roundish, curved abruptly at the end. Nostrils sub-basal, lateral, rather small, oblong, pervious. Lower mandible flattened, its angle very long and narrow, the dorsal line very short, slightly convex, the edges soft, with about sixty lamellæ.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long, slender. Body elongated, slightly depressed. Feet very short; tibia bare for about a quarter of an inch; tarsus very short, compressed, anteriorly with two series of scutella, the outer shorter, the rest covered with reticulated angular scales; toes obliquely scutellate above; first very small, free, with a narrow membrane beneath; third longest, fourth considerably shorter, second shorter than fourth, their connecting webs entire, on the edge crenate; the second or inner toe with a membranous margin. Claws small, slightly arched, compressed, rather acute, the hind one very small and more curved, that of the middle toe with an inner sharp edge.
Plumage dense, soft, blended. Feathers of the head short, of the occiput and nape a little elongated, of the lower parts glossy with the extremities of the filaments stiffish. Wings rather long, little curved, pointed; the first quill longest, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries very broad, but pointed, the inner much elongated, and tapering to a point. The tips of the filaments of the outer web of the first primary are separated and curved a little forwards. Tail short, rounded, of sixteen strong pointed feathers, of which the middle pair project considerably.