File:Birds of the water, wood and waste (1910) (14563929887).jpg

Identifier: birdsofwaterwood00guth (find matches)
Title: Birds of the water, wood & waste
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Guthrie-Smith, H. (Herbert), 1861-1940
Subjects: Birds Photography of birds
Publisher: Wellington, N. Z. : Whitcombe & Tombs
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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other members of the flock. This season my acquaintance with the 38 BIRDS OF THE WATER Brown Duck began on October 13th.Returning late that night from watchingfor Bhie Ducks, and riding past a marshyspot on the road, I noticed somethingskidking in front along the watertable.Flushed, it proved to l)e a Brown Duck,and had scarcely relit a few yards distant,when, wdth a great quacking aiiother bird—one of three—flew down and joined com-pany. It was evident from their mutual excite-ment and interchange of greetings, thatthey were mates, and after waiting a littleI rode home, arguing that there must be anest in the vicinity, that the flushed birdmust have been sitting, and that she hadtemporarily left a not vei-y distant nest tofeed. Next day, ho^^ever, systematic searchrevealed nothing, and twice later we wereequally unsuccessful. Each night we lay out, Brown Ducks,just after dark, could be heard coming tothe marsh, but each night, also, otherBrown Ducks were there before ourarrival.
Text Appearing After Image:
WOOD AND WA8TE :^>i» Once or twice, searching for Rails nests, Ihave fancied I heard Brown Ducks in thetall, wet raupo beds, and these birds mayhave had youni^- with them. On the otlierhand, on January 1st, and weeks after thatdate, there v,ere sixteen Brown Ducks,male and female, in mature phunage onthe southern portion of Tutira lake. Ofthese a couple of pair seemed to be keepingto some extent apart, but the remainderflew together and swam together, as thoughflocked for the winter. Each of these four kinds of duck has itsown peculiar haunts and habits. The Blue Duck will be found in thedeep, cool gorges and rushing, boulderedstreams, and nowhere else. The BrownDuck breeds probably near the little blindcreeks that percolate rather than flowthrough the marsh lands. There during thedaytime he quietly rests, or if on largersheets of water, lurks until dusk in deepshadow and almost motionless. The Scaupseems to breed only on the lakes veryedge, during the winter months to con-gregate

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