314 SUMMER DUCK. 



a tree containing the nest of a Summer Duck, on the banks of 

 Tuckahoe river, New Jersey. It was an old grotesque white 

 oak, whose top had been torn off by a storm. It stood on the 

 declivity of the bank, about twenty yards from the water. In 

 this hollow and broken top, and about six feet down, on the 

 soft decayed wood, lay thirteen eggs, snugly covered with down, 

 doubtless taken from the breast of the bird. These eggs were of 

 an exact oval shape, less than those of a hen, the surface exceed- 

 ingly fine grained, and of the highest polish and slightly yel- 

 lowish, greatly resembling old polished ivory. The egg mea- 

 sured two inches and an eighth by one inch and a half. On 

 breaking one of them, the young bird was found to be nearly 

 hatched, but dead, ag neither of the parents had been observed 

 about the tree during the three or four days preceding; and were 

 conjectured to have been shot. 



This tree had been occupied, probably by the same pair, for 

 four successive years, in breeding time; the person who gave 

 me the information, and whose house was within twenty or 

 thirty yards of the tree, said that he had seen the female, the 

 spring preceding, carry down thirteen young, one by one, in 

 less than ten minutes. She caught them in her bill by the wing 

 or back of the neck, and landed them safely at the foot of the 

 tree, whence she afterwards led them to the water. Under this 

 same tree, at the time I visited it, a large sloop lay on the stocks, 

 nearly finished, the deck was not more than twelve feet distant 

 from the nest, yet notwithstanding the presence and noise of 

 the workmen, the ducks would not abandon their old breeding 

 place, but continued to pass out and in as if no person had been 

 near. The male usually perched on an adjoining limb, and kept 

 watch while the female was laying; and also often while she 

 was sitting. A tame Goose had chosen a hollow space at the 

 root of the same tree, to lay and hatch her young in. 



The Summer Duck seldom flies in flocks of more than three 

 or four individuals together, and most commonly in pairs, or 

 singly. The common note of the drake ispeet, peet; but, when 

 standing centinel, he sees danger, he makes a noise not unlike 



