LIFE HISTOKTES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 79 



were flying about or bedded out on the lake, I considered it fair to 

 assume that at least 150 pairs of ducks were breeding or preparing 

 to breed on this one island. In addition to the species above re- 

 corded, we saw on the island several American mergansers, a white- 

 winged scoter and one cinnamon teal, making a total of 14 species of 

 ducks which were probably breeding on the islaiid or in sloughs 

 around it. As may be imagined, it was with considerable interest 

 and pleasant anticipation that I revisited this island in 1906, ]>ut I 

 was most keenly disappointed to find it practically deserted. Instead 

 of the immense flocks of ducks which I had seen rise from the sloughs 

 like clouds of mosquitoes, only a few scattered flocks were seen. As 

 we walked across the island expecting to see ducks flying up all about 

 us, hardly a duck arose, and in place of the 60 odd nests that we ex- 

 pected to find only 3 nests were found. The mystery was soon solved 

 by finding a nestful of broken eggs and bunches of yellowish hair 

 clinging to the rose bushes. A coyote had been living on the island 

 and had cleaned out all of the nests, and driven the ducks away. 

 The destruction of the bird population of the island had been still 

 further carried on by a family of minks and the entrance to their 

 burrow Vv'as strewn with feathers. Whether the ducks will ever return 

 to this island or not is an open question, but probably they have 

 moved to some safer spot. 



The prevailing impression which seems to exist in the minds of 

 many writers that the gadwall is nowhere an abundant species should 

 be dispelled by the foregoing account of its abundance in Saskatche- 

 wan, where it was at that time, and probably still is, the most 

 abundant of all the ducks. It is undoubtedly steadily decreasing, as 

 all the other ducks are, for advancing civilization and the demands of 

 agriculture are usurping its breeding grounds. If a few such places, 

 as I have just described, which are not particularly valuable for 

 agricultural purposes, could be set apart as breeding reservations for 

 waterfowl, this and many other species might be saved from exter- 

 mination, which otherwise seems inevitable. Since the above was 

 written I have learned from Mr. Hoyes Lloyd that much of the land 

 around Crane Lake has been secured by the Canadian Government 

 and that the locality described above will be included in an exten- 

 sive bird reservation. 



CoartsMp. — Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1920) has given us the follow- 

 ing interesting account of the courtship of the gadwall: 



The mating flight of the gadwall is always interesting and is seen constantly when 

 the birds are on their breeding grounds. Here at Lake Burford opportunities for 

 observing it were excellent. The flight was usually performed by two males and one 

 female. In the beginning two males approached a female in the water, calling 

 and bowing. She usually rose at once and flew with a slow flapping flight, mounting 

 in the air with the males in pursuit, calling and whistling constantly. First one and 

 then the otlier ol the males swung in front of her, set his wings., inclined hie body 



