LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWI.. 39 



guished from the pintail by its larger size, shorter neck, and by its 

 blue speculum with conspicuous white borders. The eggs are ellipti- 

 cal ovate in sha])e and vary in color from a light greenish buff to a 

 light grayish buff, or nearly white, with very little luster. The meas- 

 urements of 93 eggs in various collections average 57.8 by 41.6 

 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 64 by 41.5, 

 63.5 by 45, 52.5 by 39.5 and 53 by 38.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Incubation, which is performed wholly by the female, 

 lasts from 23 to 29 days, usually 26; it does not begin until after the 

 last egg is laid, so that they all hatch out about the same time. As 

 soon as the young have dried their dov. ny coats and are strong enough 

 to walk, they are led by their mother to the nearest water which 

 is often a long distance away. The watchful mother is ever on 

 the alert and at the approach of danger gives her note of alarm which 

 sends the little ones scattering in all directions to hide in the under- 

 brush or thick grass, while she diverts the attention of the intruder. 

 She is very courageous in the defense of her young; I once surprised 

 a female with her brood in a little pond hole in the timber: although 

 the young were well hidden in the surrounding grass and bushes, the 

 old bird was flapping about, within a fev,' feet of me, splashing and 

 quacking loudly, frequently rising and circling about me, then drop- 

 ping into the pond again and showing every symptom of anxiety, 

 totally regardless of her own safety; the young were too well concealed 

 for me to find them and I left the anxious mother in peace. The 

 drakes usually take no interest in family cares, after the eggs are laid, 

 but gather in small flocks by themselves, molt into eclipse plumage 

 and hide among the rushes in the sloughs where they spend the sum- 

 mer in seclusion. The female, according to Audubon (1840), cares 

 for and rears the brood alone. 



She leads them along the shallow edges of grassy ponds, and teaches them to seize 

 the small insects that abound there, the Hies, the mosquitoes, the giddy beetles that 

 skim along the surface in circles and serpentine lines. At the sight of danger they run 

 as it were on the water, make directly for the shore, or dive and disappear. In about 

 six weeks those that liave escaped from the ravenous fishes and turtles have attained 

 a goodly size; the quills appear on their wings; their bodies are incased with feathers; 

 but as yet none are able to fly. Tliey now procure their food by partial iinmereiong 

 of the head and neck in the manner of the old bird. 



Dr. Harold C. Bryant (1914) has noted that— 



when diving to escape capture they would often cling to the weeds beneath the 

 surface, and when finally forced to come to the top for air would expose to view the 

 top of the bill only. They tried to escape by simply diving and clinging motionless 

 to weeds more often than they attempted to swim long distances under water. 



As soon as the young birds have acquired their first plumage, in 

 September, they gather into flocks, old and young together, and feed 

 in the grain fields, where they become very fat. 



15749—23 4 



