Cope Lake is the especial province of the nesting pairs of Canada geese, and sometimes as many as eight golden-colored goslings are hatched in one nest on the small island. The Mallard Duck, (_Anas boschas_), is one of our finest swimming birds, the joy of the sportsman who finds it in its haunts, the delight of the epicure who finds it on the bill of fare. Sluggish indeed must be the blood which does not beat faster at the sight of a flock of wild Mallards, free in Nature, and ready to leap into the air and away at the slightest alarm. After the pintail and the wood duck, this is one of the handsomest ducks of North America, and also one of the finest for the table. Its range covers practically the whole of the western continent down to Panama, and even extends to the Azores, north Africa, and northern India. The drakes are readily recognized by the splendid irridescent green of the head. The Green-Winged Teal, (_Nettion carolinensis_), and Blue-Winged Teal, (_Querquedula discors_), are very delicate birds, and therefore rather difficult to maintain in captivity. A flock of each will be found in the Flying Cage. The Pintail Duck, (_Dafila acuta_), is specially commended to the notice of visitors because of its great beauty, both in color and form. Its colors form an exquisite harmony of soft brown and gray tones which fairly rival the more gaudy color-pattern of the wood duck. The species is yet found occasionally along the Atlantic Coast, but like all other edible birds, its numbers are rapidly diminishing. A large flock of these birds will be found on the Wild-Fowl Pond. [Illustration: DUCKS FEEDING: WILD FOWL POND.] The Gadwall, (_Chaulelasmas strepera_), is a handsome gray bird, well known to gunners along the Mississippi Valley, but rarely seen along the Atlantic coast. Its chief breeding grounds are in the great marshes of central Canada. The Baldpate, (_Mareca americana_), one of the finest of water-fowl, is now so scarce that it is difficult to obtain specimens for exhibition. These birds are poor divers, but gain a good livelihood by feeding on floating sea lettuce, disturbed from the bottom by the better equipped canvas-backs and redheads. The bill of the Shoveller, (_Spatula clypeata_), has become so specialized for mud-sifting that it has actually assumed the shape of a shovel, and is out of all proportion to the size of the bird’s body. The sides of the bill are equipped with bony plates, through which the mud is strained, the particles of food being caught and swallowed. The Canvas-Back (_Aythya vallisneria_), and the Red-Head, (_A. americana_), two prime favorites with the sportsman and epicure, are exhibited on the Wild Fowl Pond. Of the latter, a good-sized flock is shown. Canvas-Backs, however, are difficult to capture unhurt, and still more difficult to keep alive in captivity, and for these reasons the number exhibited always is very small.