THE SUMMER DUCK. 211 



bling old polished ivory. The egg measured 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, as 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 afterward 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 notwithstand- 

 ing the presence and noise of the workmen, the ducks 

 would not abandon their old breeding place, but contin- 

 ued 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 hol- 

 low 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 com- 



