248 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



9 



the bin and the eye. The underparts, secondaries, coverts and centers 

 of the scapulars are white, the rest of the upperparts being black. Fe- 

 male. — Head brown without any white patch, underparts and speculum 

 white, the breast being gray and the back slaty. 



NEST AND EGGS. 

 These beautiful birds breed northward from the United States to 

 the limit of trees. Like the Wood Duck they make their homes in the 

 hollow cavities of trees or in case of the absence of these, in cavities 

 under boulders. The bottom of the cavity is lined with leaves, grass 

 and down from the breast of the female. Their six to ten ashy green 

 eggs are laid during the latter part of May or in June. 



HABITS. 



These ducks are familiarly known to all gunners and also to many 

 others as Whistlers, a name given them because of the whistling sound 

 made by their wings when in flight. They are also frequently called 

 Great-heads because of the puffy appearance of the short crest. Dur- 

 ing the summer they are found chiefly about fresh water rivers or lakes 

 where they nest in hollow trees growing near the banks. Their nests 

 are found at all elevations from the ground, sometimes not more than 

 a foot and again they may be twenty or thirty feet up. Frequently the 

 opening is so small that it would appear impossible for so large a bird 

 to squeeze through it, but they appear to do so with the greatest of 

 ease. The young, like those of the Wood Duck, are obliged to flutter 

 and scramble down the tree trunk as best they may, when it comes 

 time for them to leave their nursery, the mother bird, in the mean- 

 while encouraging them by guttural croakings from the ground be- 

 neath. When they have all made the descent in safety, she leads them 

 to the waters edge where they swim and play as though water had al- 

 ways been their natural dement. 



In the fall they start on the journey to the south, travelling in small 

 flocks and resting in fresh water lakes, ponds or rivers. Numbers of 



