74 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Sandys describes how he watched a Wood Duck taking young 

 in her bill from the nest in a hollow willow tree, which stood 

 about 20 yards from the stream and leaned away from the 

 water. She carried the first duckling down the trunk in her 

 bill and dropped it when about 2 yards from the ground. 

 Others then came out of the hole and slid, scrambled and 

 stumbled down the trunk. One was caught by one leg in a 

 crevice of the bark, but was released by the mother. She then 

 fluttered to the ground with it in her bill. She took another 

 down in her bill, holding it by the skin of its back. In the 

 meantime the last duckling ran halfway down the trunk, tripped 

 and fell to the ground. She then led them to the water.^ 



In Macouns' "Catalog of Canadian Birds" the following 

 statement is made: "Have seen the old bird carry her young 

 to the water in her bill," but this observation is credited to 

 " Spreadborough . " ^ 



In the preface to the catalogue the Macouns say: "Practi- 

 cally all observations made by both of us since 1888 are 

 credited to William Spreadborough, who since 1889 has accom- 

 panied either one or the other of us to the field nearly every 

 year." Mr, Spreadborough was a collector who was fully 

 trusted by the Macouns. He collected all their specimens, and 

 in some years, notably in 1896, 1898, 1904, 1906 and 1907, he 

 worked independently. His notes, revised by the Macouns, 

 covered many parts of the Dominion of Canada from Labrador 

 and Hudson Bay to Vancouver Island and north to Peace 

 River, and he paid particular attention to the habits of wading 

 and swimming birds. 



Mr. E. G. Kingsford publishes an experience with the Wood 

 Duck which occurred on the Michigamme River, Iron County, 

 Michigan, early in July, 1898. According to his account the 

 nest was in a hollow pine about 200 feet from the water, and 

 50 or 60 feet from the ground. The ducklings were all brought 

 to the water by the female, and were held by the neck m her 

 bill.3 



In the years 1910-11 I investigated the decrease of water- 

 fowl and shore birds in New England, and in a questionnaire 



1 Sandys, Edwin: Outing, Vol. XLI, No. II, November, 1902, pp. 164-168. 

 - Macoun, John and James M.: Catalog of Canadian Birds, 1909, p. 91. 

 3 The Auk, Vol. XXVI, No. -3, July, 1917, pp. 335, 336. 



