WOOD DUCK LIFE 



115 



that we would soon depart and leave him free to finish the 

 feast which he had found in the stump. 



The shells of two or three eggs, from which the contents 

 had been eaten, were lying about on the ground, and upon 

 climbing to the nest I found it held but a single one. I 

 visited the stump frequently afterward in the hope that the 

 ducks would continue to use it, but they at once deserted 

 the nest which had met with such ill fortune, nor have they 

 ever used it since. 



Three weeks after this occurrence, the birds were again 

 making daily trips into the forest as before, which sug- 

 gested that a second setting of eggs was being laid. Day 

 after day I searched for their new nest. Marking the line 

 of their flight, I chose the general direction and followed it, 

 examining every tree or tall stump I passed. But my 

 efforts were without result. 



Some weeks later a boy came to tell me that he had found 

 the ''summer duck's'' nest, so we journeyed into the woods 

 together. The nest was about thirty feet from the ground, 

 in a large cavity of a living tree. The boy said that when 

 he climbed to the opening two days before, he had seen 

 eleven eggs. But now we found that the eggs had hatched 

 and the ducklings had departed. 



It has been stated by some observers that the young are 

 carried from the nest, one at a time, in the bill of the parent 



