CINNAMON TEAL 127 



separated and diverse localities as Lake Tahoe, the San Joaquin 

 Valley, and the coastal marshes of southern California, the site chosen 

 for the nest is always in the vicinity of fresh water. On salt marshes, 

 fresh water oases are sought out. The immediate site chosen differs 

 markedly in the numerous instances recorded. Sometimes the nest 

 is placed in grass land or a grain field a hundred yards or so from 

 water ; more conunonly, it is in a damp situation, as in tules or marsh 

 land, and at the edge of some small pond or stream. The nest itself 

 is usually a compact structure made of grass stems and weeds and, 

 less often, tules; but occasionally it is nothing more than a slight 

 hollow in the ground. After the full complement of six to thirteen 

 eggs is laid, the nest is always well lined with down of a dark gray 

 hue ; as a rule, until the set is complete, little or no down is to be 

 found in the nest. While sitting, the female is secretive, and only 

 flushes when an intruder is close to the nest. A nest found by H. C. 

 Bryant (MS) near Lathrop, San Joaquin County, May 22, 1911, 

 from which the female had departed before his approach, was found 

 to have the eggs covered and completely concealed by the down. 

 Speaking of the Cinnamon Teal in the nesting season at Los Banos, 

 Chapman (1908, p. 290) says that "the drake was always within a 

 few feet of the duck, when she was oft' the nest, and invariably sprang 

 into the air a foot or two behind her when she took wing. We made 

 this habit a subject of special observation without ever seeing the 

 male bird fly first." 



At Los Banos, Merced County, in May, 1914, H. C. Bryant (1914e, 

 p. 222) found no less than twenty-three nests of this species. Of these, 

 eighteen showed evidence of destruction of the eggs by some pre- 

 dacious animal, and from three others the young had already hatched. 

 A nest which when first found contained but a single egg, four days 

 later held five eggs, showing that one egg was laid each day. Con- 

 cerning nests found at this locality the same author says : 



The ineoiispicuousness of a nest when covered with its blanket of down 

 was significantly impressed upon us on returning to a nesting site we had 

 previously marked. Although we went directly to the small islet on which 

 the nest was situated and looked carefully for the nest it took several minutes 

 to descry it, and when found was in exactly the position we had pictured it 

 in our minds. The dusky-hued down of the Cinnamon Teal harmonizes wonder- 

 fully with the damp black earth on which the nest is most often directly placed 

 (H. C. Bryant, 1914e, pp. 222-223). 



The method most frequently used in locating nests of this and 

 other species of ducks is for two persons to drag a long rope over 

 an area in which nests are to be expected. As the rope, passing over 

 the grass, approaches a sitting bird she will usually flush directly 

 and thus give a clue to the exact location of her nest. 



