20 WARM-WEATHER BIRDS. 
The second and third collect in a different manner; 
they drop into willows, buck-brush and on rivers and 
timber-clad ponds, in singles, pairs or little flocks, 
about nightfall, and depart before morning; these 
places are used by them nightly during their migra- 
tions, until all have gone south, and appear to be 
regular stopping places. The ducks of the third issue 
are full-fledged upon their arrival. 
The feeding grounds are in oak slashes, willows, 
buck-brush, lily and lotus beds, wild rice (the blossom 
of which they are very fond of), smartweed and duck- 
weed. The roosting grounds are in buck-brush, wil- 
lows, timber-clad sloughs and pond holes. ‘The 
playgrounds are in open water, found in timber and 
brush, in down rice and lily or lotus beds. The nesting 
erounds are in holes of trees, or stumps of trees whose 
tops have been broken or rotted off, in rat houses and 
holes in banks. Their food is—vide chart. Their 
ery is principally heard when disturbed, or from feed- 
ing birds attracting the attention of others passing by; 
it consists of two notes, 6-€ék, uttered once or twice. 
It is a timber bird only crossing the prairies during its 
nigrations. 
Its clutch is from ten to fourteen greenish-colored 
eggs. The young are carried by the mother, when the 
nest is a height from the ground, by her beak, grasp- 
ing the head or neck, or between her thighs steadied 
by the beak, and are deposited upon the ground at or 
near the foot of the tree; then are taken, after all are 
safely upon the ground, to the nearest piece of water. 
When nests are overhanging the water or close to the 
ground, the young are gently pushed from the nest by 
the mother, one by one, | 
