788 THE WOOD DUCK. 
tree, in a large deserted Woodpecker hole, or in a central hollow of some tree 
to which admission may be gained thru a crevice. Those holes which over- 
look water are preferred, but in the absence of these the bride and groom will 
sometimes take up residence a half a mile from the nearest swamp or stream, 
Within the chosen hollow, from eight to seventeen eggs, “resembling old pol- 
ished ivory,” are placed on a cushion of grasses, leaves, feathers, and down. 
Occasionally the entrance to the hole is so narrow that the female in visiting 
her eggs is obliged to spend some time in squeezing thru. As the female sits 
for four weeks, the male mounts guard in a neighboring tree and apprises her 
of approaching danger by a strange cry, “oe-eck,” like the crowing of a young 
cock. 
When the young are hatched, they instinctively scramble to the mouth of 
the hole and tumble out, or are urged out by the mother, falling either into the 
receptive water, or upon the carpet of leaves at the foot of the nesting tree. If 
the distance is too great, the mother will carry the youngsters to the ground in 
her bill one at a time, until all are out, and then lead them to the nearest water. 
Mr. J. W. Edwards, a well-known pioneer of Seattle, informs us that a 
Wood Duck nested yearly, until recently, in an old maple stub on the banks of 
Squawk Slough near Redmond. The nesting cavity was about eighteen feet 
up, and so well accustomed did the mother duck become to the attentions of 
her human neighbors that the school-boys built a cleat ladder up the side of 
the stub and took turns watching the brooding bird without causing her 
desertion. 
Wood Ducks used to be very abundant in the Central and Southern 
States, but so fierce has been the gun-fire directed against them that they have 
been actually exterminated in many of their former haunts; and the alarm has 
been vigorously sounded of late by both the National Association of Audubon 
Societies and the Bureau of the Biological Survey at Washington, in view of 
the threatened extinction of the species. The bird is now little known in 
Washington, save along the southern border. Here, and especially upon the 
islands of the lower Columbia River, Deer Island, Sanvie’s, and the rest, 
Wood Ducks are not only common but abundant. It is reported to us on the 
highest authority that members of certain shooting clubs in Portland obtain 
the bag-limit (now twenty-five, but until very recently fifty ducks per day in 
Oregon) of this species alone during the September shooting. In view of the 
bird's scarcity elsewhere, such a thoughtless course is very much to be 
deprecated, 
The situation upon the banks of the Columbia serves again to emphasize 
the necessity of some national system of control. Here is a species known to 
be in danger of extermination, yet locally abundant in one circumscribed sec- 
tion. The entire nation is interested in the preservation of this bird, but the 
government is powerless to interfere where the local conscience is apathetic or 
