LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 113 



tion to those we found in North Dakota. On that wonderful duck 

 island in Crane Lake 10 out of the 61 ducks' nests found were of 

 this species; only the gadwall, of which we found 23 nests, exceeded 

 it in abundance. 



Rev. Manley B. Townsend has sent me his notes on a nest \\'hich he 

 found in a slough near Crystal Lake, in Nebraska, on June 10, 1910. 

 He writes : 



One June day we made a systematic search of the awamp for nests, and were 

 rewarded in richest measure, finding- numerous nests. As we picked our cautious 

 way through the swamp we came to a small dry area, some 30 feet back from the 

 open water. Out from under our feet burst a large bird with a startled "quack" 

 and went hurtling of? over the pond. It was a female blue-winged teal. There, 

 beneath a tuft of grasses, in a hollow on the ground, was the nest, built of grasses 

 and lined with dark-brown mottled down pulled from the mother's own breast. In 

 the midst of the downy bedclothes rested 10 beautiful, cream-colored eggs — ^an 

 exquisite casket of jewels destined to develop into living gems far lovelier than any 

 rubies or diamonds ever dug from the earth. The beauty of such a spectacle can 

 not be adequately described and must be seen to be appreciated. On lea\'ing the 

 nest, the bird is accustomed to nicely cover her treasures with the warm comforters 

 to prevent too rapid evaporation of the heat. We had unexpectedly "jumped " her 

 and she had left in too great a hurry to perform that customary function. Two weeks 

 later we found the nest empty, but the whole family were out there on the pond, 

 bobbing about us buoyant as corks, learning how to make a living and survive in a 

 wonderful but dangerous world. 



Several observers have reported nests in close proximity to rail- 

 road tracks, which seems to be a favorite location. 



Mr. Robert B. Rockwell (1911) has made some extensive studies 

 of the nesting habits of ducks in the Barr Lake region of Colorado; 

 he writes : 



By far the most abundant nesting duck throughout the Ba,rr district was the 

 pretty little blue-winged teal. No matter wliat type of ground our searches carried 

 us over, we were sure to be startled by the occasional flutter of wings, as a dainty 

 little gray-clad mother left her nest like a flash upon our too close approach. We 

 found nests of these birds in the dense cat-tail growth along sloughs; on the soggy, 

 spongy seepage ground under the big dykes; at the edge of beaten paths near the 

 lake shore; by roadsides back from the water; among the drj' weeds and sand of the 

 prairie, far from the water's edge; amid the dense rank grass on a tiny island; in 

 alfalfa fields, on grassy flats, and in cavities in and upon muskrat houses. 



The nests exhibited a wide diversity in construction. The predominating type was 

 a neat basketlik<; structure composed of fine soft dead grass, sometimes set well into a 

 dense chunp of rank grass on the surface of the ground, and sometimes sunken into 

 a cavity until the top of the nest was flush with the surface of the ground. These 

 nests were usually liberally lined with down; much thicker on the sides and rim of 

 the nest than on the bottom. In fact several were examined which liad no down 

 whatever underneath the eggs. The quantity of down varied greatly in different 

 nests, but apparently increased in quantity as incubation advanced. 



A less common type of nest was made entirely of bits of dead cat-tail blades deepset 

 into a cavity in the ground. This type of nest was usually found in marshy places, 

 where this material was more available, and in these there was much less of the 

 downy lining. The concealment of these uosts was likewise less effecti\e, and taken 



