142 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:4— April, 1920 



Some States do not protect this bird at all; many others allow 

 shooting for a part of the spring. Wood Ducks begin mating in 

 the south in December, January or February, and are mostly 

 mated when they arrive in the north. If all the eastern states 

 would enact laws forbidding spring shooting, and protecting the 

 Wood Duck at all times, a few years would suffice to repopulate the 

 country with this beautiful bird. 



In flight the Wood Duck is swift and direct when in the open, but 

 it can penetrate among the many branches of the woods as swiftly 

 ^and surely as a Ruffed Grouse or a Passenger Pigeon, twistitig and 

 turning rapidly in avoiding the many obstacles in its way. It 

 nests usually near the water ; but if no hollow tree or stump is to be 

 found near its chosen feeding ground it will find one farther away, 

 in an old orchard, a hollow elm overhanging a farm-house or some 

 old tree by the roadside. I have been informed that the eggs of the 

 Wood Duck are sometimes laid on the ground where no better site 

 can be found, but have never seen one so situated. The height of 

 the nestling site above the ground or water varies from three feet, 

 or even less, to forty or more. The bird is able to so compress her 

 body that she can squeeze into a very small hole, but when the 

 entrance is of a size to accommodate her easily, she appears to fly 

 directly into it, striking the plumage of her breast against the lower 

 edge of the entrance to break the force and speed of her descent. 



When the young are hatched they are soon pushed out or fall out, 

 and if the nest is favorably situated they drop upon the water. If 

 the nest is some distance from the water the process of getting the 

 young to it varies with individual birds. I have questioned people 

 who claim to have seen the operation, and am convinced that the 

 mother usually takes the young in her bill and flies with them to 

 the water. 



A few nesting boxes put up in the trees about a pond may induce 

 Wood Ducks to nest there. This device is often successful, and I 

 have seen a Wood Duck family that was reared in a nest of this 

 kind. Where they are unmolested they become tame. A family 

 once frequented a small pond within a hundred yards of my home, 

 and a pair bred in a city park several seasons. 



The Wood Duck is a surface feeder. Most of its food is obtained 

 in shallow water or on shore. It takes both vegetable and animal 

 food, insects, chestnuts, acorns, etc. 



