154 



THE OOLOGIST. 



about, some fifty yards distant, quack- 

 ing softly. Leaving the old female to 

 care for the remainder of the brood, I 

 carried my captives into camp and 

 placed them in a box, the sides of 

 which were about a foot and a half 

 high, but young as they were, they 

 managed to escape. 



On the Magdalen Islands, the Black 

 Ducks deposit their eggs during the last 

 of May or first week in June. When in 

 company with Mr. Wm. L. Breeze, near 

 the first of July, I discoved a brood of 

 about a dozen young, my attention be- 

 ing attracted to them, by a whistling 

 sound which they made. They were sit- 

 ting huddled together, in the top of a 

 small spruce which was lying prostrate 

 over a small stream that flowed through 

 a little ravine. The old duck was ab- 

 sent, and by making a sudden dash at 

 them, I managed to capture three, be- 

 fore they were aware of our presence. 

 The rest dropped 'nto the shallow water, 

 some diving, others creeping into holes, 

 while some sought shelter beneath the 

 roots or overhanging moss; in short, 

 they managed to conceal themselves so 

 effectually, that we only succeeded in 

 finding one which we took out of the 

 water from beneath a stone. 



Wild Black Ducks are frequently 

 reared by the inhabitants on the Mag- 

 dalen Islands, and readily mix with the 

 domesticated race which, however, evi- 

 dently originated from this species; and 

 those I captured, I resigned to the care 

 of an old lady, who had a brood of do- 

 mestic birds, but from some unaccount- 

 able cause, they soon died. — From May- 

 nard's Birds of Eastern North America. 



On the north coast of the large island 

 of Chiloe, there are several places of 

 this sort where these beautiful birds 

 may be seen in flocks of hundreds dur- 

 ing the months of June, July and Au- 

 gust, the winter months m that region. 



I remember the first time I wa'ked 

 over one of their favorite resorts. It 

 was on the Pudeto river, near the small 

 town of Ancud. The tides here are 

 rather high owing to the formation of 

 the bay, and as a consequence it enters 

 the river and floods great stretches of 

 sand that border the left bank. As the 

 tide goes out the Flamingoes may be 

 seen here by hundreds. The first time 

 I visited the place the tide had been out 

 some hours and there were no birds to 

 be seen. I was disappointed, for the 

 trip had been made for that special pur- 

 pose. 



However my attention was soon at- 

 tracted to long rows of small hillocks 

 of sand, or rather, to be more exact, 

 circular ditches in the sand that ap- 

 peared to have been made while the 

 water was still present. These were 

 about two or two and one- half feet in 

 diameter by five or six inches wide and 

 three or four inches deep. This, of 

 course, gave the central portion the ap- 

 pearance of a small hill about eighteen 

 or twenty inches in diamjeter. Upon 

 inquiry I could get no information— no 

 one had any idea how or by whom they 

 had been made. 



A few days later the mystery was 

 solved when a second visit was made to 

 the place at a more propitious moment. 



Upon approaching to within a few 

 hundred yards of where a regiment of 



■.«.... I >^ these scarlet beauties was lined up, the 



Feeding- Habits of the Scarlet Fll> birds took flight and it was then that I 



mingfo. 



One of the favorite winter haunts of 

 Plioenicopterris ignipalliatus is found on 

 the sandy beaches that abound on the 

 west coast of South America, at about 

 latitude 42° South. 



discovered who were the authors of my 

 mysterious little hills. 



By subsequent obserrations I found 

 that the birds took their stand in the 

 water when it was about a foot and a 

 half deep, and at more or less regular 

 intervals about eight or ten feet apart. 



