LIFE HISTOlilliS OK NOKTH AAlKlUCA^■ WTLD FOWU 87 



from its custoiiiary manners of nesting are Avortli mentioning. Dr. 

 Morris Gibbs (1885) mentions finding a nest '^ placed in a hollow stub, 

 sirailiar to the wood duck's nest." 



Mr. L. E. Wyman says of its nesting habits in the vicinity of 

 Nampa, Idaho: 



Breeds in the tiiles and swampy creek bottoms, and to some extent around the 

 reservoir, where lack of that sort ot' vegetation essential to its breeding operations has 

 led to its nesting in some cases in alfalfa fields a quarter of a mile away, a well- 

 beatun patli connecting nesting site and water. 



Mr. J. Hooper Bowles (1909) describes the nesting habits of the 

 mallard in Washington as follows: 



West of tlie Cascades the nest is often built at a considerable distance from water, 

 a nest found near Spanaway Lake serving for an example. It was situated 150 yards 

 from the lake under a pile of brush on a bushy hillside. The duck, when flushed, 

 tumbled along the ground, feigning a broken wing, but she soon flew quacking to the 

 lake, where she was very shortly joined by the drake. Other nests are built in the 

 heavy fir timber, being placed at the base of a giant tree in exactly the same manner 

 as nests of the sooty grouse. 



Mr. Robert B. Rockwell (1911) thus describes a rather unusual 

 nest which he found in the Barr Lake region of Colorado: 



On May 11, 1907, while wading out from shore tlirougli a sparse, burn'd-over groAvth 

 of cat-tails, skirting a small lake, a female mallard flushed noisily from a large musk- 

 rat house and revealed a beautiful set of 11 eggs deposited in a hollow, Kciaped in the 

 dead cat-tails and debris fonning the house, and well lined with down. The house 

 was very conspicuous, standing over 2 feet above the surface of the water surrounding 

 it, and the nest was an open one, as can plainly bo seen from the accompanying illus- 

 tration. There was no apparent attempt at concealment. The female fluslied when 

 we were fully 30 yards from the nest, and the male swam about well out of gimsliot. 

 A week later (on the ]8th) we succeeded in approaching to within 10 feet of the 

 brooding female, who was in plain sight even from a considerable distance. The 

 nest was in much tho same condition as on the preceding visit, but tlic; downy lining 

 was much less in evidence. On the 24th we found that the musl^rats liad been adding 

 to the house, with llie result that the mother bird, in order to kei'p her treasures from 

 being buried, had been forced to move her nest over toward the edge of the pile. In 

 fact four of the eggs were missing on this date, and we sunnised that they had been 

 pushed off into the water during the moving process. A week later (May 31) the 

 house had been built up much higlier, and the nest was on the ragged edge of the 

 pile, with the iggs apparently far atlviuictd in incul)atioii. On June 8 the eggs had 

 been hatclied. and in our examination of the nest W(! wcr- surprised to find the four 

 missing eggs deeply buried in thi; debris at almost tlu' txact spot where the nest was 

 located when first found, A fascinating bit of tin- family history would have 

 undoubtly been revealed had we be"n enabled to observe the attitude of the busy 

 nuiskrats tuward ihe Ijrooding mother bird, and tlie pruei ss of moving the nest. 



Mr. J. Hooper Bowles has sent mc the following interesting notes: 



In the vicinity of Takoma, Washington, the mallards liav(,' an extremely wide range 

 of variation in their nesting habits, botii as to date and locations for nesting sites. 

 Many of them are paired by the middle of January, and the first eggs are usually de- 

 posited during the last week in February. Fresh eggs may be foiuid from this date 

 up to the middli' of June, but tlie great majority are hatched by the latter part of 

 April. 



