V i°S93 X ] Allen oh the Nesting of the Black Duck. 55 



Early in the morning, May 27, I saw a Rail dodge into this 

 little clump from the water's edge, and in trying to rind it I 

 stepped into the Duck's nest, flushing the bird and partly break- 

 ing one of the eleven eggs it contained. They were uncovered, 

 though embedded in down, and several were already pipped. 

 The old bird soon came back to the marsh and suddenly appeared 

 in the clear water from behind some bushes and tried to entice me 

 away. After cutting away some of the branches concealing the 

 nest I started back along the causeway so as to bring my camera 

 from the lighthouse. I had gone but a hundred yards or so when 

 another Black Duck appeared swimming in a clear patch of water 

 far out in the centre of the marsh. It vanished behind a grassy 

 ridge and then took wing. Although I had no boots I waded 

 out and examined a tuft of bushes and grass far back in the direc- 

 tion from which the Duck was swimming. This bird had 

 undoubtedly been startled by the outcries of the first, and had 

 quietly left her nest, only showing herself when at a distance. In 

 this nest, fairly covered with down, were four young already 

 hatched and not dry as yet, and six eggs rapidly hatching in the 

 hot sun. When I returned to this nest with the camera an hour 

 later, every egg had hatched and nothing but the empty shells 

 remained. I could find nowhere the slightest trace of the birds, 

 young or old. 



I was very careful in approaching the first nest and stood 

 watching the actions of the bird while she was preparing to leave 

 the nest. For nearly a minute she seemed busy with the eggs and 

 the down under her, as though partially covering them up. Then 

 she silently slipped into the water, diving just behind a tuft of 

 grass. The water was so shallow and clear that I could plainly 

 watch her as she swam under water close along - the edge of the 

 causeway, instead of going out into the wild canals of the marsh. 

 She came to the surface with a wild outcry some distance beyond 

 me and close to the path. I dropped everything and followed, 

 while she kept fluttering in apparently the most helpless manner, 

 and even struggling as though drowning, but a few feet away. 

 She seemed to realize that I would not follow her out into the 

 deep water of the marsh, so she still kept along the edge of the 

 causeway, gradually increasing her distance from me and recover- 

 ing from her crippled state, until she finally swam behind a bushy 

 island and from there took flight oft' toward the ocean. 



