128 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFOFNIA 



As is shown by the accompanying tabh' (no. 10) the number of 

 eggs in a complete set ranges from 6 to 13, the average being between 

 9 and 10. The eggs are ovate or elongate-ovate in shape, and measure 

 in inches 1.73 to 2.08 by 1.18 to 1.38, averaging 1.87 by 1.36. The 

 color is creamy white or pale buff. The eggs of the Green-winged 

 Teal are decidedly smaller, but similar in tone of color. Those of 

 the Pintail, Gadwall and Shoveller are much larger. 



A. M. Shields {in Schneider, 1893, p. 22) has given the folloM'ing 

 notes as to the habits of the young : 



After being hatched, the mother cluck (joined by her mate) escorts the 

 young brood to the nearest body of water and manifests the greatest solicitude 

 for the well-fare of the little fellows, giving a signal upon the slightest 

 approach of danger, which is followed by the almost instant disappearance of 

 the entire brood, as if by magic. 



If on the shore, they disappear in the grass; if in the water, they dive, and 

 that is generally the last seen of them, for the time being at least, as they 

 swim under water for great distances until reaching the edge of the stream or 

 pond, when they imperceptibly secrete themselves among the water moss or 

 grass. 



I once watched a little fellow as he made his way under the clear water. 

 He went straight for a little bunch of floating moss, and by gazing intently 

 I could just distinguish the least possible little swelling of the moss; a 

 small hump, as it were, about the size of a marble. He had come to the 

 surface (as intended) under the patch of moss, and his head and bill were 

 responsible for the little hump in the moss. 



Possibly one thing more than anything else helps the little fellows to dis- 

 appear in such marvelously quick time and before you can realize it. The 

 old duck flutters and falls around you just out of your reach and most success- 

 fully imitates a fowl badly winged, hardly able to rise from the ground. 



Her actions are bound to more or less avert your attention for a moment 

 at least, and it is just that moment that the little fellows disappear, as the 

 mother Duck undoubtedly intended. 



After a short time, when the little ones are all securely hidden, the mother, 

 feeling no further anxiety, gracefully recovers from her crippled condition, 

 flies off' a few hundred yards, and there awaits your departure, when she 

 returns to her family, who soon gather around her one by one till they are 

 all assembled and everything goes on as though nothing had happened — until 

 the next intruder appears, when "presto! change!" and the samp actions 

 are repeated. 



Writing of the Cinnamon Teal at Los Bafios, Merced County, 

 Chapman (1908, p. 290) says that the agility of the ''freshly hatched 

 ducklings was remarkable. Almost on emerging from tlie egg they 

 took to the water, swimming and diving freely." 



The Cinnamon Teal is one of the tamest of the ducks and can 

 often be approached to within a few yards. The species often asso- 

 ciates with other ducks, especiall.v Math the Green-winged Teal, but 

 ■without appearing to be as sociable as the latter and never gathering 

 in such large flocks. After nesting time, family parties are the rule, 



