caccawee

Updated: June 22, 2025

This species is the most noisy of all the duck tribe, and is called by the voyageurs `caccawee, from its fancied utterance of these syllables; and the sound, so often heard in the long nights of the fur countries, has been woven into and forms the burden of many a voyageur's song.

Mayne Reid - The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North

In some parts of the United States the caccawee is called `south-southerly, as its voice is there thought to resemble this phrase, while at the time when most heard the autumn these ducks are observed flying in a southerly direction.

Mayne Reid - The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North