THE SUMMER DUCK. 181 



and slightly yellowish, greatly resembling eld, polished 

 Ivory. The egg measured two inches and an eighth by one 

 inch and a half. On breaking one of them, the young bird 

 wa.9 found to be nearly hatched, but dead, as neither of the 

 parents had been observed about the tree during the three 

 or four days preceding, and were conjectured to have been 

 ghot. 



This tree had been occupied, probably by the same pair, 

 for four successive years, in breeding time ; the person who 

 gave me the information, and whose house was within 

 twenty or thirty yards of the tree, said that he had seen 

 the female, the spring preceding, carry down thirteen young, 

 one by one, in less than ten minutes. She caught them in 

 her bill by the wing or back of the neck, and landed them 

 safely at the foot of the tree, whence she afterwards led 

 them to the water. 



Under this same tree, at the time I visited it, a large 

 sloop lay on the stocks, nearly finished ; the deck was not 

 more than twelve feet distant from the nest, yet notwith- 

 standing the presence and noise of the workmen, the Ducks 

 would not abandon their old breeding place, but continued 

 to pass out and in, as if no person had been near. The 

 male usually perched on an adjoining limb, and kept watch 

 while the female was laying, and also often while she wa^ 

 Bitting. A tame goose had chosen a hollow space at the 

 toot of the same tree, to lay and hatch her young in. 



