LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 69 



their hreeding ranges it might be proper to regard them as distinct 

 species, though all three forms are closely related and probably the 

 intergrades have only recently disappeared. 



In the central and southern portions of Florida this duck is an 

 abundant resident bird. I have met with it frequently in the vari- 

 ous portions of Florida that I have visited. On the islands in Indian 

 River, where there were muddy ponds surrounded by marshes, we 

 usually found a pair of these ducks, which were probably breeding 

 there but had their nests too well concealed in the luxuriant growth 

 of tall, thick grass for us to find them. We saw them occasionally 

 in the inland lakes of southern Florida, but we found them most 

 abundant in the extensive marshes of the upper St. Johns River; 

 here they found ample feeding grounds and playgrounds among the 

 dense tangles of vegetation, pond lilies, bonnets, water hyacinths, 

 water lettuce, and other aquatic plants; the dense clumps of taller 

 growth and the impenetrable sav/-grass sloughs offered them conceal- 

 ment from their enemies; and they found safe sleeping and resting 

 places in the centers of the larger bodies of water. 



Nesting. — As I have not been fortunate enough to find one of their 

 nests, I shall have to quote from the observations of others. Dr. 

 D. G. ElHott (1898) says: 



It breeds in April, and the nest, formed of grass and similar materials and lined 

 with down and feathers, is placed upon the ground in the midst of matted grass, or 

 under a palmetto, or some sheltering bush, near water. 



The following account is published by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway 

 (1884) based on the excellent field notes of Mr. N. B. Moore: 



This duck hatches in Florida from the first to the last-of April, only one set of eggs 

 being laid in a season, unless it fails in raising its first brood. The nest is always 

 placed on the ground, and the number of egirs is usually 9 or 10. In one instance a 

 nest was discovered which was nearly 3G0 yards from water, and other nests were 

 met with still farther from water. The one first referred to was cautiously concealed 

 in a thick mass of dead grass held upright bj' green palmettoes, about 2 feet high, 

 Mr. Moore once noticed a pair of ducks fly from a pond, near which he was seated, 

 and pass over the pine barrens. One of them dropped among the grass; the other 

 returned to the water. Suspecting that the birds might have a nest, he visited the 

 locality the next day, when the birds behaved as before. He soon made his way to 

 the spot where the female alighted, and found her in a somewhat open space. On 

 her return to the pond he soon discovered her nest. It was carefully screened from 

 view on all sides, and bo canopied by the standing grass that the eggs were not visible 

 from above. There was a rim of soft down, from the mother's breast, around the eggs, 

 partly covering those in the outer circle. On viewing the nest the next day this 

 down was found to have been drawn over all the eggs. Mr. Moore took them and 

 placed them under a hen; and six days after they were hatched. This was early in 

 April. It would appear, therefore, that the statement that the male forsakes his 

 mate during incubation is not well founded ; for in this instance the male bird, about 

 the twenty-fourth day of incubation, still kept in the vicinity of the nest. It is, 

 however, the uniAersal belief that he does not assist in rearing the young. 



