358 Wright, Black Duck Nesting at Boston. [jjj y 



within view of the careful scrutiny of an observer from shore. 

 The drake was again present, but took flight away about 7 a. m. 

 in the direction of the Charles River Basin, the duck continuing 

 on her new nest while we remained a half horn' longer. This was 

 April 30. The days following, she went on her nest each morning, 

 usually after being seen on the water with her mate, and when she 

 had settled herself, the drake would swim away and remain at a 

 distance, thus withdrawing attention from the nesting site, or 

 would fly away to other waters for a time. On some of the earlier 

 mornings the pair were seen arriving on the wing and soon there- 

 after the duck to go on her nest. So its occupancy continued 

 up to May 24 inclusive, when it might be supposed that she had 

 laid her litter of eight to ten eggs and been sitting about two weeks. 

 But the following day she could not be seen on her nest or on the 

 pond and was not again present during the remaining days of May. 

 For some reason the nesting had failed. 



The next two springs, 1912 and 1913, no Black Ducks were seen 

 to visit the Garden pond. In 1914, as late as May 16, a pair 

 appeared and was present on some of the successive days, but there 

 was no nesting. The visits were apparently occasional excursions 

 from other waters. But in 1915 a pair of the iristis type, perhaps 

 the pair which had made a few occasional appearances in 1914, 

 again came to the Garden as early as March 14, when the winter's 

 ice had but partly gone from the pond. They were not seen 

 again, however, for a week, during which there was a new formation 

 of thin ice nightly with minimum temperatures of 26° to 29°. 

 They reappeared on March 21 and followed up their visits, some- 

 times being seen on the Frog Pond of the Common. But conditions 

 were not yet favorable for nesting activity, for on March 27 there 

 came a cold wave lowering the temperature to 1S° and a coating 

 of new ice was formed on the ponds. This was directly followed 

 by the drawing off of the water for the purpose of cleaning the 

 bottoms, and the ducks, so far as my observation went, made 

 only two or three casual visits during the next two weeks. On 

 April 3 six inches of snow fell. This delayed the spring-cleaning 

 work, and it was two weeks later, or April 17, when the water was 

 turned on again. Visits of the pair of Blacks, however, on April 11, 

 13, and 14, indicated that they were keeping a watchful eye on 



