38 Bl'LLKTlN 120, UjXITKf) STATES NATIONAL jMUSEUM. 



The early nests ure nearly ahvays, in my experieuco, placed either in trees or far 

 back in the dense fir timber on the ground, in the latter case usually at the base ol" some 

 huge fir, or under a fallen log among dense brush, often a quarter of a mile from the 

 water. It has always been a mystery to mo how a bird of the open water, like a mal- 

 lard , can find its way back to the nest through t imber and brush so thick that it requires 

 all the ardor of the oologist. I well remember my first siglit of mallards under these 

 conditions, when I was hunting liorned owls in some very heavy timber. It was a pair 

 flying about ten feet from the ground and passing only a few feet from where I stood 

 motionless. They were evidently hunting a favorable nesting site and they threaded 

 their way swiftly, but surety, among tlio tree trunks, seeming as much at home aa 

 any grouse. 



When building in trees the nests are never in tliose of the large tree-nesting birds, 

 but are usually built in the fork of some large tree where an abundant growth of moss 

 and tree ferns make the site both secure and well concealed. I have found such 

 nests as high as 25 feet above the grouTid, the great majority of my observations being 

 made on the estate of Dr. G. I). Shaver, who iias made an especial study of these ducks 

 and showed me all tlie nests that he could find. 



As the season advances more open situations are often selected, sometimes at the 

 base of a small oak on the dr\' prairie, at others among the rushes in a marsh over 

 several feet of water, and again on a fioating log in some small woodland pond. The 

 mallards seem to lose much of their habitual shyness when the nesting season ap- 

 proaches, having little hesitation in building close to human habitations. However, 

 they are very artful when leaving and returning to the nest, being experts at crawling 

 and hiding, so that few people Iiave any idea that there is such a thing as a duck 

 within a mile of them. 



The male is the most attentive to t')e female during the nesting season of any of our 

 ducks, being seldom far from the nest at any time. I once saw a drake guiding a 

 brood of downy young through a very brushj- swamp, and was fortunate enough to 

 have them pass directly under me as I was standing on a low, rustic bridge. The 

 female was nowhere to be seen, which is so imusual luider the circumstances that I 

 belie\e she must have met with some accident. 



The mallard occasionally lays its eggs in the nest of other ducks, 

 I have found what were apparently mallard's eggs in nests with can- 

 vasbacks and redheads. Nearly all ducks when nesting in close 

 proximity are more or less addicted to this habit thougli the mallard 

 is less often guilty of it than several other species. 



The nest of the mallard is generally well lined with large fluffv down, 

 ''bister" or "sepia" in color, with conspicuous Vv'hit(> centers and 

 faintly indicated whitish or light brown tips. Distinctly marked 

 breast or flank feathers, with central brown streaks, or broadly 

 banded with dusky and tipped with brown, are usiutlh' found in the 

 nest, together with more or less rubbish. The nest and eggs some- 

 what resemble those of the pintail, but both the down and the eggs 

 are larger and the feathers are distinctive. 



Eggs. — Only one set of eggs is normally laid by the mallard which 

 usually consists of from 8 to 12 eggs, sometimes 6 eggs constitute a 

 full set and sometimes as many as 15 are laid. The eggs of the mal- 

 lard might easily be mistaken for those of the pintail, but they aver- 

 age slightly larger, a little lighter in color and are not quite so much 

 elongated. The female mallard when Hushed may be readily distin- 



