WOOD DUCK 143 



ileserted wooclprcktn- 's uest enlarged through decay. Sampson (1901, 

 p. 95) found a Wood Duck's nest located in the deserted home of a 

 Red-shafted Flicker about twenty-five feet above the ground in a 

 valley oak tree at Forest Lake, San Joaquin County, April 29, 1900. 

 The nest contained twenty-one eggs. A difference in size and colora- 

 tion was noticeable in these eggs, so that it seems probable that the 

 set had been laid by two females. 



Messrs. Wheeler and Sampson found a set of fifteen eggs of this 

 species in 1896 at a point on the San Joaquin River a short distance 

 above Lathrop, San Joaquin County. The nest was in a hollow tree 

 close to the overflow from the river, and the tree was infested with 

 ants, which, however, did not appear to have in any degree disturbed 

 the ducks. Wheeler {in H. R. Taylor, 1897, p. 110) has also reported 

 the nesting of a pair of Wood Ducks in a barn on the Sacramento 

 River, near Isleton, Sacramento County. The birds entered the barn 

 through a hole in the boards and built their nest in the hay. The 

 farmer who owned the hay guarded the nest and allowed the eggs to 

 hatch. 



Mr. Joseph ]Mailliard tells us of having found in 1872 or 1873 a 

 nest of the Wood Duck in a hole in a dead tree on the bank of Gal- 

 linas Creek, Marin County. One of the parents was frightened from 

 the nesting cavity. The nest contained not less than eight eggs, 

 though no accurate record was kept of the circumstances. 



This duck returns to the same nesting site year after year. Incu- 

 bation lasts for a period of four weeks. The female alone attends to 

 this duty, the male usually being found standing guard on a near-by 

 limb. Some observers say that the male deserts the female during this 

 period. The young either tumble out of the nest and are led to water, 

 or are carried to the water one by one in the bill of the mother 

 (Sandys, 1902, pp. 166-167; and others). 



We have no good general account of the habits of the Wood Duck 

 since the days of the famous naturalist-artist, Audubon. Writing of 

 observations made in the southern states he says: 



jSTo sooner has the female completed her set of eggs than she is abandoned 

 by her mate, who now joins others, which form themselves into considerable 

 flocks, and thus remain apart until the young are able to fly, when old and 

 young of both sexes come together, and so remain until the commencement of 

 the next breeding season. In all the nests I have examined, 1 have been 

 rather surprised to find a quantity of feathers belonging to birds of other 

 species, even those of the domestic fowl, and particularly the Wild Goose 

 and Wild Turkey. On coming upon a nest with eggs when the bird was 

 absent in search of food, I have always found the eggs covered over with 

 feathers and down, although quite out of sight, in the depth of a . . . hole. 

 ... If the nest is placed immediately over the water, the young, the moment 

 they are hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into the air with 



