LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 91 



pour, the cloud of gulls and terns screaming overhead and the ducks 

 flushing under our feet every fcAV steps created enough excitement 

 to make us forget our discomfort. 



The nest of the baldpate is built on dr}'' ground, often at a consider- 

 able distance from the water, in a slight hollow generally well lined 

 with bits of dry grass and weed stems, with a plentiful supply of light- 

 gray down surrounding the eggs, which increases in quantity as in- 

 cubation advances. The bird frequently covers the eggs with the 

 down when she leaves the nest, completely concealing them and 

 making the nest almost invisible, even in an open situation, which 

 is often selected. The nests which I found on the islands described 

 above were located as follows: The first was well concealed in the 

 center of a thick clump of goldenrod growing on the beach; it was 

 lined with dried leaves and rubbish, with very little down around 

 the eight fresh eggs. The second was in the center of a clump of 

 nettles near the upper edge of a stony beach; it contained eight 

 fresh eggs which -were laid on the bare stones, one of them plainly 

 visible in the center of the nest, and surrounded by a little down; 

 it contained 10 eggs and a good supply of down two weeks later. 

 The third nest was on higher ground, concealed in rather tall prairie 

 grass; the 11 eggs in it Vv'ere heavily incubated; it was profusely 

 lined with down, mixed with bits of dry grass and weeds. The 12 

 nests found on June 15 were mostly under rose bushes, among the 

 rocks, many of them in open situations; they contained from 9 to 11 

 eggs each. One of the nests contained a white-winged scoter's egg 

 and one an egg of the lesser scaup duck, both of which were nesting 

 on the island. 



According to Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1S84), Kennicott found 

 several nests of the baldpate, on the Yukon, fully lialf a mile from 

 the river: 



Ho ixivariably iound the nost among dry leaves, upon higli, dry ground, either 

 under large trees or in thick groves of email ones, frequently among thick spruces. 

 The nest is rather small, simply a depression among the leaves, but thickly lined 

 with down, with which, after incubation is begun, the eggs are covered when left by 

 the parent. The nest is usually placed at the foot of a tree or bush, with generally 

 no attempt at concealment. The female, when started from her nest, rises silently 

 into tlie air, and usually (lies to the nearest water, thougii sometimes she will 

 alight on the gi'ound a few rods distant. 



The nest of the baldpate can only with difh(;ulty be distinguished 

 from that of the gadwall, as explained under the latter species. -V 

 careful study of the color patterns in the wings of the two females 

 will hel{) the collector to recognize the female as she flies from the 

 nest. And the nest is distinguishable on careful comparison. The 

 down in the baldpate's nest is lighter and smaller; it is "light drab" 



