490 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



meadow, near a pond or stream, biit sometimes in a swamp 

 in which a small brook is the only water for miles around. 

 This species sometimes follows these small brooks up to 

 their sources ; and I once found one with a nest on a low 

 stump that overhnng a small spring on the side of a hill, a 

 mile from any other water. The nest of this species is con- 

 structed of pieces of grass and weeds, which are neatly 

 arranged into a structure eighteen inches in diameter on 

 the outside, and three or four in depth. Tliis is hollowed 

 for perliaps an inch and a half or two inches, and lined 

 with the down and feathers from the breast of the parent- 

 bird. The eggs are from seven to ten in number : their 

 form is usually ovoidal ; and their color varies from an 

 olivaceous-yellow to a dirty yellowish-white. If a dozen of 

 these, and an equal number of the eggs of the Mallard, 

 are placed side by side, it is almost impossible to identify 

 them, so closely do they resemble each other. The eggs 

 of the present species vary from 2.50 by 1.72 inch (Lake 

 Umbagog) to 2.26 by 1.65 (Weston, Mass.). They aver- 

 age about 2.34 by 1.74 (Nova Scotia). Early in Septem- 

 ber, the Dusky Duck gathers in flocks of fifteen or 

 twenty. It is now so difficult of approach, that the experi- 

 enced gunner seldom attempts to secure it by stalking it. 

 The method by which the greater number are killed is as 

 follows : The sportsman, knowing the localities most fre- 

 quented by these flocks, — generally meadows in which 

 streams of water or small ponds are abundant, — builds a 

 bower near the water, about six feet square, and five or six 

 high, of the limbs of pines and other dense foliaged trees, 

 in which he secretes himself at daybreak, armed with one or 

 two heavy double-barrelled guns, and provided with three 

 or four tame ducks. One of these ducks he anchors or 

 moors out in the water, half a gunshot from the bower. 

 The duck, soon becoming lonesome, begins to call, when, if 

 there are any wild ducks in the neighborhood, they answer 

 the call in an almost exactly similar note, and soon fly to 



