AMONG THE WATER FOWL 



clumps of grass, weeds, or bushes, and found 

 enough eggs of Gadwalls, Baldpates, Scaups, Sco- 

 ters, Pintails, and Shovelers to have filled many 



pails, had we 

 gathered them. 

 It was not 

 surprising, with 

 this teeming 

 bird-life, to find 

 that the Ducks 

 not infrequently 

 laid in each 

 others' nests. I 

 found a mixed 

 set of ten Shov- 

 elers' eggs and 

 four of a Scaup, 

 flushing the fe- 

 male Shoveler from this aggregation. I also found 

 Shovelers' eggs in a Baldpates' nest. 



On the summit of the island, under clumps of 

 rose-bushes, Scoters seemed to hold sway. Under 

 one clump we literally unearthed ten buried eggs. 

 My companion looked into another near-by thicket, 

 and a great Scoter sprang almost into his face, 

 revealing a magnificent set of fourteen large eggs. 

 At the western end of the island, on the highest 

 ground, was a very large clump of rose-bushes, as 

 high as one's head, the others having been but a 

 couple of feet in height. Near the top of one of 

 these bushes was the nest of a common King- 

 bird with three eggs. I crawled into this maze 

 of briars and was about to leave when I thought I 



192 



" AND FOUND ENOUGH EGGS ... TO HAVE FILLED 

 MANY PAILS, HAD WE GATHERED THEM." NEST 

 OF LESSER SCAUP 





