130 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



The Wood Duck is one of the most richly 

 and beautifully colored birds of the United 

 States, and, for a migratory bird, is peculiarly 



:*i^ 



Photo by H. K. Jub 



MALE WOOD DUCK 



In one case which I witnessed, a Golden-eye, 

 emerging from quite a narrow slit, had fairly to 

 wriggle from side to side to force its way out. 



After the nesting season the Wood Ducks are 

 seen in small flocks, probably family parties. 

 They frequent the wooded swamps, and fiy out 

 to the more open ponds and streams about dusk. 

 Where dead trees or branches have fallen into 

 water, a typical sight, to be witnessed by 

 creejiing very silently through the bushes, is 

 a row of these beautiful Ducks standing on 

 the fallen timber enjoying the sunshine, some 

 asleep, with bills under the wing-coverts, others 

 preening their feathers, but all appearing very 

 well contented with their lot in life. 



This bird was classed by the Government as 

 one of our vanishing species. This aroused 

 widespread concern, and caused a number of 

 States to prohibit shooting for terms of years ; 



ours, in that it breeds nearly all over our national 

 domain, from north to south, and in winter 

 it mostly remains within our borders. More 

 than any other Duck it is a woodland bird. It 

 frequents ponds and streams which are bordered 

 by woods, and makes excursions, a-wing or a- 

 foot, or both, back from water into the real 

 woods, where it devours nuts, as well as what- 

 ever insect or other small life it encounters. 1 

 have examined specimens, taken in the fall, 

 which had their crops completely filled with 

 whole acorns. Such a meal, surely, should 

 " stand by " for a long time ! 



The regular natural nesting site is in a hollow 

 tree, preferably in the woods, and it is often 

 quite a distance back from water. Owing to the 

 increasing scarcity of large hollow trees, these 

 Ducks seem at times hard pressed to find suit- 

 able locations. On a farm in Connecticut back 

 from a pond, an old apple tree growing in a 

 pig-pen by the barn was cut down, and, in 

 chopping open a hollow branch, eleven eggs of 

 the Wood Duck were discovered, though never 

 had a Duck been seen about the premises. About 

 a mile from this place another farmer showed me 

 a nest with ten eggs at the top of the hay in his 

 barn, up near the roof. The mother Duck came 

 through a broken clapboard up near the peak 

 of the roof, dug a hollow in the hay, and lined 

 it with down from her breast. Still another nest. 

 on this same farm, was in an apple tree of the 

 orchard. A couple of miles away another was 

 in a large maple beside the highway, so low 

 down than one could just peer in from the 

 ground. It is surprising through what a small 

 hole a Duck can pass to enter and leave a nest. 



of S. A. Lottndge 



NEST AND EGGS OF WOOD DUCK 



The regular nesting site is in a hollow tree, preferably in the 

 woods, and is often a distance from water 



the same action was adopted also by Federal 

 regulations. There seems now to be a marked 

 change for the better, in which result artificial 



