1909] The 1907 Alexander Alaska Expedition. 193 
natives, the eggs are deposited in hollow stumps. As soon as 
the young are out they accompany their parents to salt water.”’ 
The species was fairly common in the lakes inland from Mole 
Harbor, May 19 to June 11. At Red Bluff Bay, Baranof Island, 
Stephens records that two females brought broods of young down 
to the water near camp on June 19. Dixon secured a downy 
young there June 17. The American merganser was noted once 
at Hooniah, Chichagof Island, the last week in June; and it was 
seen sparingly on Glacier Bay, June 27 to July 20. 
The expedition brought home four American mergansers, one 
adult male (No. 10), two adult females (Nos. 75, 114), and one 
downy young (No. 76). 
Mergus serrator Linnaeus. Red-breasted Merganser. 
According to Dixon’s notebook, fifteen or twenty individuals 
of this species were seen at Windfall Harbor, Admiralty Island, 
during the sojourn of the party there, April 17 to May 19. None 
were taken. 
Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus. Mallard. 
A few mallards were noted at Windfall Harbor, where a male 
was shot May 8, but not preserved. In the neighborhood of 
Alexander and Beaver lakes, near Mole Harbor, the species was 
common, and Dixon records the following of it: ‘‘ Each outlying 
beaver pond had its pair of mallards. The females were seen 
coming into the big lakes to feed at about 6:30 in the evening. 
On May 25 a very small duckling (No. 13, in natal down) was 
secured from a flock of six or eight. Although this flock of 
youngsters was seen on a number of occasions we never found 
any old birds with them. The mallard was found to raise two 
broods a year, and it might have been that the parents had al- 
ready turned the first brood out to rustle for themselves.’’ Lit- 
tlejohn is of the opinion that the heavy forest along the lake 
shores formed ideal protection from enemies, so that supervision 
by their parents was unnecessary. 
At Port Frederick, Chichagof Island, a pair of mallards was 
seen on a mud flat the last of July. On Glacier Bay, June 27 to 
July 20, several broods of young were noted, and on July 14 
