h some ceremony, he flaps off with his
beak held straight before him, like a Duck. Terns are the better flyers,
but Gulls are decidedly the more expert swimmers."

"Are Gulls and Terns related?" asked Dodo.

"They both belong to one family of many members. These two that you have
been watching are among the best known of all--the American Herring
Gull, who lives on both lake and ocean; and the Common Tern, who mostly
follows the sea-coast."

"Heads down!" called Olaf. The boom swung round, the sail dropped, and
the boat ran into the shallow water of the beach at Great Gull Island.
"You haven't given us any Duck tables, Uncle Roy," said Dodo.

"You cannot stop on this hot sand to write them out; but I will remember
to give them to you as soon as we get back to the cabin."

"When shall we ever see these Ducks?" sighed Dodo, thinking of the long
list there would be to write; "because I can remember better when I see
things than if I only hear about them."

"Do you realize that when you go back to the Farm, it will be time for
birds to begin their autumn journeys, and that they will be passing by
until the snow is on the ground? Why may you not meet some of these
Ducks by the river, or see them swimming on the pond? Or, if you are not
so lucky, you must look for them in markets and museums. Some of them
are sitting in my wonder room at this very minute."

(These are the Duck tables that Dodo afterward wrote in her book.)

The Wood Duck

Length eighteen or twenty inches.

Male (the Drake, as the male of all Ducks is called): upper parts
velvety black, shining with bronzy, purplish, greenish, and violet
tints.

Under parts rich purplish-chestnut on the breast, which is marked with
chains of white spots like polka-dots; belly white; a white band on each
side of the breast in front of the wing; the sides further back tan
color with fine wavy black lines, and still further back distinctly
banded crosswise with black and white.

Head beautifully crested and banded with white and the shining dark
colors of the back; bill prettily tinted with pink, lake-red, and black;
eyes red; feet orange.

Female and young: much more plainly dressed than the male, but enough
like him not to be mistaken. A Citizen of North America, who lives in
the woods, unlike most other Ducks, and nests in a hole in a tree, like
a Woodpecker--but it has to be a much larger, natural hollow. This
beautiful Duck is not very plentiful now, and sh