SEA DUCKS 109 



Among the breeding places in Jericho Bay are Spirit Ledge, 

 Green Island, Saddleback Ledge, Halibut Ledge and Hardhead 

 Island, and at present about seven pair of birds nest on the 

 various islands enumerated. Formerly a small colony of five 

 pair nested on Spirit Ledge which is a small rocky island on 

 which grow a few clumps of Heracleum and Ligusticum. 



A nest from Hardhead, June 20, 1896, contained five eggs 

 of a pale greenish olive color. The eggs were laid in a nest 

 of grass, and were imbedded in and entirely covered with down. 

 They measure 2.99 x 2.07, 3.05 x 2.01, 3.04 x 2.06, 3.11 x 2.04, 

 3.09 X 2.08. The female was almost stepped upon before she 

 left the nest. Four eggs from Saddleback Ledge, June 26, 

 1895, measure 3.05 x 2,10, 3.17 x 2.05, 3.06 x 2.05, 3.16 x 2.05. 

 This nest was in the very short grass and the eggs were entirely 

 covered with and rolled up in down, so that the entire affair 

 looked like a mass of rubbish the nature of which was acci- 

 dentally disclosed by curiosity impelling me to ascertain the 

 cause of this odd mass. A number of pair of birds had left 

 this island at our approach and though there were several nests 

 the birds were absent from all. Three to seven eggs are some- 

 times laid, but four or five seems to be the more usual number 

 on our coast, and if these be taken the bird will lay more. 

 Nests with fresh eggs contain the minimum amount of down 

 and this is added to as incubation progresses. The birds are 

 expert divers and feed in or near the surf in the roughest places. 

 They eat mussels, clams and other small mollusks, Pentacta 

 frondosa and starfish while in some cases small fish are also 

 eaten. They are often observed perched on the rocks or 

 shore of the islands where they are nesting. While they usually 

 build their own nest I have observed instances where the nest 

 of the Herring Gull had been appropriated and lined with 

 down, but in such cases it seemed likely that the birds were 

 laying again after being once robbed. When flushed from the 

 nest the female flies away crying "kuk, kuk, kuk". The call 

 of the male bird in the mating season is "a-o-wah-a-o-wah". 



