334 V>^^1, Nesting Habits, of AtiatidcE in N. Dakota. X^^ 



prairie ' reeds growing tall and thick along the bank where it 

 sloped down to the beach. It was partially arched over by the 

 prostrate stems of the dead reeds of last years growth, as shown 

 in the photograph (Plate IV, Fig. 2). 



Very little down was used in the construction of this nest, 

 which contained 1 1 nearly fresh eggs. The parent bird was 

 shot for identification. Nest No. 3 was not far away in a more 

 open place in the same patch of reeds. It was well made of 

 strips and broken pieces of the reeds mixed with down and pro- 

 fusely lined with down around the edges. The nest contained 

 10 eggs in which incubation was considerably advanced. The 

 location and structure of the nest is illustrated in the photograph 

 (Plate V. Fig. i ). 



The other four nests were found on a neighboring island, some- 

 what smaller, about two acres in extent, high and rocky at one 

 end with thick clumps of wild rose bushes growing among numer- 

 ous boulders, and flat at the other end partially covered with 

 prairie grass and partially bare, except for scattered clumps of 

 rank weeds. About 100 pairs of Ring-billed Gulls were breeding 

 on this island and large numbers of Common Terns. Two of the 

 Gadwalls' nests were in the prairie grass and two were in small 

 clumps of the rank weeds. One of these latter two is now in my 

 collection ; it was well made of dry grass and weed stems and 

 thickly lined with dark gray down, particularly around the edges ; 

 it contained 1 1 nearly fresh eggs of the Gadwall and one ^gg of 

 the Lesser Scaup Duck, which was breeding abundantly on both 

 of these islands. 



Baldpates were also breeding abundantly here and we experi- 

 enced considerable difficulty, at first, in identifying the nests of 

 the Gadwall. These ducks are all close sitters, and after shooting 

 a few birds we soon learned to identify them as we flushed them 

 from the nests. The females of the two species resemble each 

 other very closely, but the Gadwall is considerably darker on the 

 back and rump, whereas the Baldpate is lighter and shows con- 

 spicuous light patches in the wings as she flies away. There is also 

 a great similarity between the eggs of the two species, but there 

 is a slight and fairly constant difi^erence ; the Gadwall's eggs are 

 nearly oval in shape, shorter and more rounded than those of the 



