36 BULLETIN 120, UNITED STATKS NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



swimmuig rouud in this fashion for some little time, the mallards will suddenly 

 lower their bills so that the tips ol tliem are under the suriace, and as they do so 

 they stand up in the water and then rapidly pass their bills up their breagt». This 

 motion is performed witli somewhat of a jerk, and if one observes very closely, 

 a liTiy jet of water will be seen to be thrown out in front by the bill being jerked 

 from the water; this is interesting, as one also finds tliis jet of water in the spring 

 "show " of the golden-eye, but in this case it is made by the drake kicking out a 

 small jet of water with his foot while he quickly throws back his head. 



The mallard while performing action No. 2 as 1 will designate it, utters a low 

 note rather difficult to describe, but 1 think it may be said to be a low whistle with 

 a suspicion of a groan in it, as though it caused the bird an effort to utter. Following 

 tliis, the mallards lower Iheir breasts and raise their tails two or three times in quick 

 succession; and tliis, which we mny call action No. S is often followed by a repetition 

 of actions Nos. 1 and 2. A quick " throw np " of head and tail, with the feathers of 

 the head puffed out, is action No. 4. and this is followed quickly by action No. 5 

 in which the drakes stretch out their necks with tlieir throats just over the water 

 and swim rapidly about in different directions, when, apparently by common consent, 

 they all come back to action No. 1, and go through the whole performance over again. 



Nesting. — In North Dakota I found the mallard breeding quite com- 

 monly, in 1909, about the lakes and sloughs of Nelson and Steele 

 Counties, although it was outnumbered by at least three other species, 

 the blue- winged teal, the pintail, and the shoveller. It begins laying 

 in that region early in May, though fresh eggs were found as late as 

 May 31. The locality there chosen for its nest is generally on or near 

 the edges of a slough or lake, either among dry, dead flags where the 

 ground is dry or only slightly marshy, or upon the higher land not 

 far from the water and among thick dead reeds. It also nests on the 

 open prairies and often at long distances from any water. Two of 

 the nests we found were on an island in Stump Lake in the middle 

 of a patch of tall, dry, reedlike grass, locally called "queen of the 

 prairie" {Pliragrmtes) which grows higher than a man's head. The 

 nest is usually woW hidden and consists of a hollow in the ground, 

 well lined with broken dead reeds or flags, apparently picked up in 

 the immediate vicinity, mixed with dark gray down and a few feathers 

 from the bird's breast; the down is thickest around the edges of the 

 nest and increases in quantity as incubation advances. 



During my two seasons sj^ent in southwestern Saskatchewan, 1905 

 and 1906, mallards were frequently seen flying about in pairs up to 

 the middle of June, indicating that they had not all flnished laying 

 at that time. They were not as common as several other species of 

 ducks, but were seen on many of the lakes and nearly all of the creeks. 

 Only seven nests were found during the two seasons and five of these 

 found on the great duck island in Crane Lake on June 17, 1905; 

 these five nests contained I, 2, 6, 8, and 9 eggs, respectively, showing 

 that they breed later in that region than farther south, although 

 these may have been exceptional cases. 



Wliile my own personal experiences with the nesting habits of the 

 mallard inuloubtodly illustrate its normal habits, certain departures 



