WOOD DUCK LIFE 113 



a small lake. They always flew in the same manner, the 

 female leading, the male either following a few feet behind 

 or more rarely occupying a position at her side. They 

 moved very rapidly and in a few seconds would be out of 

 sight among the tree tops. The outgoing trip to the woods 

 was usually made about seven o'clock in the morning, and 

 the return trip three or four hours later. 



It was evident from these movements that the birds had 

 a nest at some place back in the forest, and I spent many 

 hours in hunting it. One day, by chance, I detected the 

 male sitting on the bough of a tree fully fifty feet from the 

 ground. Thinking the female must be in the neighbor- 

 hood I sat down and waited. Doubtless the duck on the 

 limb saw me, but as birds often do when not suspecting 

 themselves seen, he remained perfectly quiet, not willing 

 to risk so much as a movement of the head for fear of 

 attracting my attention. For half an hour I waited, and 

 then was rewarded by seeing the female emerge from the 

 top of a tall stump. At once the male joined her and the 

 two sped swiftly away in the direction of the lake. 



The stump from which the female had flown was what 

 remained of a once large forest tree. It had withstood the 

 gales of a hundred years or more, and then at some period 

 in its old age had been broken off about twenty feet from 

 the ground by a strong wind. The heart of the stump had 



