226 RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



may already be there, with which it mixes down from the breast. The 

 Hooded Merganser has similar nesting habits and habitat, and frequently 

 the possession of a nesting site is hotly contested with the odds in favour 

 of the Wood Duck. As many as 31 eggs have been found in a nest; this 

 large number being probably the product of more than one female as 

 the usual clutch is from 10 to 15. The colour is dull white or creamy 

 white and the average size is 1.98 by 1.56 inches. Incubation takes from 

 28 to 31 days and is performed by the female alone for, as is usual among 

 ducks, the male deserts the female after incubation is well started. 



Of the nesting habits of this species Hawkins and Bellrose in their 

 unpublished studies of this species, say: "The suitability of a cavity 

 probably is determined primarily by its dimensions and availability to 

 the ducks. A female Wood Duck weighs about 114 Ibs., is about 18 

 inches long and can pass through a hole 4 inches in diameter. She is 

 remarkably adept at getting in and out of tight places, but undoubtedly 

 prefers more spacious nesting cavities when they can be found .... 

 Commonly the female leads in the search for the nest; the male follows. 

 Alighting on some horizontal limb of a tree, the pair usually spends con- 

 siderable time craning their necks until they spy a cavity. This the 

 female investigates. Sometimes the entrance is too small, and despite 

 her vigorous efforts she cannot enter. At other times she manages to 

 enter but is forced to back out. Meanwhile the male waits on his perch. 

 . . . The male usually accompanies his mate on the early visits to a nest, 

 sometimes waiting an hour or more for the female to reappear from in- 

 side the cavity. Perhaps during these early visits the female is engaged 

 in hollowing out and packing down the cup-shaped depression in which 

 the eggs are later laid." 



The same writers describe a ruse which is commonly practiced by 

 the Wood Duck to prevent discovery of its nesting site. "Unusually 

 spectacular was the twice-daily return to the nest of one pair. Their nest 

 was in the hollow of a sycamore near one corner of the village square of 

 Bath, a town of 300 people. . . . The ducks . . . dropped on set wings 

 toward the sycamore. The female was ahead, the male a few feet behind. 

 Flying within 4 feet of the ground, the hen rose swiftly to the entrance, 

 pausing a split second before entering. The male hovered momentarily 

 in flight; then recovering momentum he darted under the telephone 

 wires, up over the village and away to the river. Had we not been on the 

 lookout for some such maneuver, our attention would have been dis- 

 tracted from the bird entering the nest. One might well speculate on 

 how this excellent deception, which is a trait of the species, was evolved." 



How do the downy young, unable as they are to fly, get from a nest 

 situated 50 feet above the ground? Apparently the usual method is for 

 the little fellows to jump out and flutter down as best they can; their 

 light, resilient little bodies, with tiny wings and feet spread out to check 

 the fall, come to no harm. They first use their sharp little claws to climb 

 from the nest which may be six or eight feet below the opening, and at the 

 call of the mother duck below simply jump for it. Forbush (1929) says: 



