That is the Wood Duck--one of the exceptions to the rule that Wild Ducks nest on the ground like tame ones.

Another kind, the Black Duck, nests as usual on the ground, on a wooded island not far from the one to which we are sailing." "Will you please tell us why Ducks have such waddling legs ?" begged Nat.
"Because the best legs to swim with are not the easiest to walk with." At that moment the wind died down.

The sails flapped once or twice, and then hung loose; and the boat, instead of dashing along, began to drift lazily, with an uncomfortable rolling motion, as the swell, borne in from the ocean many miles away, crept under it.
"If the water does that much more, I shall soon be hungry," said Dodo, looking a trifle sad and pressing her hands together over her waist.
"I quite agree with you," said Olive; "I know from having had the same feeling before, that unless we eat some of these little salt biscuits, and talk about something interesting, in a very few minutes you and I will be sea-sick--which is the hungriest, emptiest sickness possible." "I thought the feeling was a little more puffy than real hungriness," said Dodo, chewing her biscuit in great haste and having some trouble in swallowing it.
"May not we men have some too ?" asked the Doctor, looking drolly at the boys, who were glancing longingly at the biscuits, but were too proud to confess their feelings.

"Not that we feel ill--oh, no! Merely for company, you know.
"Now while you munch away, I will talk Duck to amuse you; eating and Duck talk go very well together, for the Duck is chiefly to be considered as food.

You all know what a well-rounded, compact body a Duck has; do you remember having seen one carved, and how very hard it was to cut off its legs ?" "Yes, I do," said Nat.