Vol. XIXl Bent, Ncstimr Habits of Auatidcc in N. Dakota. I I 



A short search in the thick clump of tall reeds soon revealed 

 the nest with its eleven eggs, eight large, dark-colored eggs of the 

 Canvasback and three smaller and lighter eggs of the Redhead. 

 It was a large nest built upon a bulky mass of wet dead reeds, 

 measuring i8 inches bv 20 inches in outside diameter, the rim 

 being built up 6 inches above the water, the inner cavity being 

 about 8 inches across by 4 inches deep. It was lined with smaller 

 pieces of dead reeds and a little gray down. The small patch of 

 reeds was completely surrounded by open water about knee deep, 

 and the nest was so well concealed in the center of it as to be 

 invisible from the outside. The eggs were also collected on that 

 day, and proved to be very much advanced in incubation. 



The other nests of the Canvasback that we found were located 

 in another slough, about half a mile distant, which was really an 

 arm of a small lake separated from the main body of the lake by 

 an artificial dyke or roadway with a narrow strip of reeds and flags 

 on either side of it. In the large area thus enclosed the water 

 was not much more than knee deep, except in a few open spaces 

 where it was too deep to wade. 



In another section of the slough, among open, scattered reeds, 

 the Pied-billed Grebes were breeding abundantly. A few pairs of 

 Ruddy Ducks had their nests well concealed among the tall thick 

 reeds. Coots and Yellow-headed Blackbirds were there in almost 

 countless numbers, Long-billed Marsh Wrens were constantly 

 heard among the tall thick flags, Red-winged Blackbirds, Soras and 

 Virginia Rails were nesting abundantly in the short grass around 

 the edges. Marbled Godwits and Western Willets were frequently 

 seen flying back and forth over the marshes, acting as if theii: 

 nests were not far away, and clamorously protesting at our intru- 

 sion ; Killdeers and Wilson Phalaropes hovered about us along 

 the shores. Such is the home of the Canvasback, an ornitho- 

 logical paradise, a rich field indeed for the naturalist, fairly teem- 

 ing with bird life. Our time was well occupied during our visit 

 to this interesting locality, and the days were only too short and 

 too few to study the many interesting phases of bird life before 

 us, but we devoted considerable time to the Canvasback, and, after 

 much tiresome wading, succeeded in finding three more nests in 

 this slough. 



The first of these was found on June 8, while wa^^'ing through a 



