ii6 The Water-fowl Family 



for the size of the bird, the eggs being some- 

 times three or four feet from the opening. The 

 bird flies through the woods and Hghts on the 

 tree with all the speed and grace of a wild dove. 



Wilson describes a nest of the summer duck 

 found on the Tuckahoe River, New Jersey, May i8: 

 " The tree was twenty yards from water on a 

 declivity ; in its hollow and broken top about six 

 feet down, lying on soft decayed wood, were thir- 

 teen eggs, covered with down. This tree had 

 been repeatedly occupied." 



In an instance the writer has noticed, a pair of 

 wood duck for years built in a broken branch of 

 an elm, standing on the edge of a mill-pond in a 

 small New England town. When the young 

 were hatched the brood regularly disappeared, 

 the birds trusting the locality for nesting purposes, 

 but not for rearing their young. 



Professor Kumlien describes a nest found in 

 Wisconsin, in a high burr oak, in a thicket three- 

 quarters of a mile from water. 



The young are carried to the ground by the 

 old bird in her bill. The little brood frequent 

 some wild spot where foliage hides them, or a 

 secluded pool along a stream. They feed on 

 insects, water larvae, or tender buds. The mother's 

 note is low and prolonged, resembling the sylla- 

 bles whee-whee, and the young answer with a 

 soft peep. The brood fly in September, and in 



