AMONG THE WaTER FowL 
give I would not set up against the observation of 
others; it is simply the average of two seasons’ con- 
tinuous observation. Mallards and Pintails are nota- 
bly the early birds, laying any time after the first of 
May—occasionally before, I am told—though I 
think that about May 20 one will find the greater 
number of nests. By about this time, in ordinary 
seasons, the Canvasbacks have laid and the Hooded 
Mergansers. May 25 is about the right date for 
Golden-eyes; June 1 for Teal, Shovelers, and Red- 
heads; June 10 or later for Gadwalls and Ruddies; 
June 15 and on for the Scaups and Baldpates, and 
the ist of July for White-winged Scoter. 
To make the acquaintance in the nesting season 
of certain other Ducks which do not go to the re- 
mote north, we shall have to explore the Atlantic 
coast region. It is by no means as easy to find 
them there as on the Great Plains, yet patient 
searching will now and then be rewarded. Most 
of the sea Ducks, such as the Scoters and Old- 
squaws, migrate to Labrador or beyond. Some day 
I hope to follow them, but as yet my wanderings 
have not been extended north of the Magdalen 
Islands. Yet there are some interesting Ducks even 
there to be studied. 
Away out by East Point is what is called ‘the 
Great Pond,’’ a shallow body of water certainly a 
couple of miles long, occasionally inundated by the 
sea, that breaks across the beach in storms. At its 
east end are what the fishermen have named the 
“Egg Nubbles,’’ a number of tiny islets, on which 
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