Among the Water Fowl 



see more of the little-known nesting-habits of the 

 Scoters. As they seemed to select clumps of 

 bushes, I felt, as I neared the only clump on this 

 island, that there must be a Scoters' nest under its 

 shade. Nor was I disappointed, as I cautiously 

 parted the bushes and looked in. There, about a 

 yard from me, sat a female Scoter on her nest, the 

 picture of consternation, as our glances met. My 

 first thought was to get the camera and photo- 

 graph her on the nest, so I cautiously withdrew. 

 But the bird by this time recovered her presence 

 of mind. The bushes parted and she waddled out 

 past me, almost brushing against me, then taking 

 to wing, at length to drop into the lake and dive. 

 The nest contained thirteen fresh eggs. Probably, 

 as with most other Ducks on these islands and 

 elsewhere, from eight to eleven is the ordinary 

 number of eggs in the full complements. On 

 another visit to these islands a friend of mine ac- 

 tually caught a Scoter on her nest and obliged 

 her to sit for her picture ere he restored her to 

 freedom. 



The next day I made a visit to the slough where, 

 over a month before, I had seen so many kinds of 

 Ducks. We had first to dig out a boat on the large 

 lake, that a gale had nearly filled with gravel, ere we 

 could take it along with us on the buckboard. The 

 rushes and grass had grown very high, and it was 

 not as easy as before to see the Ducks, though 

 there were plenty of them. Here, at last, I found 

 my first nest of the Ruddy Duck. It was a genu- 

 ine floating structure, built out in the middle of the 

 slough in deep water, with only a few stems of grass. 



194 



