126 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



grounds at the approach of night, it shoots over the trees like a 

 meteor, scarcely emitting any sound from its wings. 



" The Wood Duck breeds in the Middle States about the 

 beo'innino- of April, in Massachusetts a month later, and in Nova 

 Scotia, or our Northern Lakes, seldom before the first days of 

 June. In Louisiana and Kentucky, where I have had better 

 opportunities of studying their habits in this respect, they gene- 

 rally pair about the first of March, sometimes a fortnight 

 earlier. I never knew one of these birds to form a nest on the 

 ground, or on the branches of a tree ; they always seem to pre- 

 fer the hollow, broken portion of some large marsh, the hole of 

 our large Woodpecker, Piais Principalis, or the deserted retreat 

 of the fox squirrel ; and I have frequently been surprised to see 

 them go in and out of a hole of any one of these, when their 

 bodies while on wing, seemed to be nearly half as large again 

 as the aperture within which they had deposited their eggs. 

 Once only I found a nest with ten eggs, in the fissure of a rock, 

 on the Kentucky River, a few miles below Frankfort. The 

 eggs, which are from six to fifteen, according to the age of the 

 bird, are placed on dry plants, feathers, and a scanty portion 

 of down, which I believe is mostly plucked from the breast of 

 the female. They are perfectly smooth, nearly elliptical, of a 

 light color between buff" and pale green, two inches in length by 

 one and a half in diameter ; the shell is about equal in firmness 

 to that of the Mallard's egg, and quite smooth. 



" No sooner has the female completed her set of eggs than she 

 is abandoned by her mate, who now joins others, which form 

 themselves into considerable flocks, and thus remain until the 

 young are able to fly, when old and young of both sexes come 

 together, and so remain until the commencement of the next 

 breeding season. If the nest is placed immediately over the 

 water, the young, the moment they are hatched, scramble to 

 the mouth of the hole, launch into the air with their little wings 

 and feet spread out, and drop into their favorite element ; but 

 whenever their birth-place is at some distance from it, the 



