OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION 71 



Bay where it spends a short time in the i)eginning of April, 

 before retiring to its more remote breeding grounds. 



The habit of raising its young in a hole in a tree seems rather 

 a singular one for a bird of this class, but in this retired position 

 the female spends the anxious hours of incubation, beyond the 

 reach of danger, to which she might elsewhere be exposed. As 

 soon as the young are old enough to bear transportation, she 

 takes them one after another by the nape of the neck and drops 

 them gently into the water. Like the other Saw-bills, this 

 species feeds on fish, on account of which its flesh is not con- 

 sidered a delicacy. 



Subfamily ANATIN^E. River Ducks, 

 Genus ANAS Linn^us. 

 34. ANAS BOSCHAS Linn. 132. 

 Mallard. 

 Male with the head and upper neck, glossy green, succeeded by a white 

 ring ; breast, purplish-chesnut ; tail feathers mostly whitish ; greater wing- 

 coverts tipped with black and white, the speculum violet ; feet orange red ; 

 female with the wing as in the male ; head, neck and under-parts pale ochrey 

 speckled and streaked with dusky. Length, about 24 ; wing, 10-12. 



Hab. Northern parts of Northern Hemisphere ; in America south to 

 Panama and Cuba, breeding southward to the northern border of the 

 United States. 



Nest on the ground, built of dry grass, lined with feathers. Eggs, eight 

 to ten, dull drab color. 



This, the parent of the domestic duck, is an abundant species 

 and widely distributed, but is found in greatest numbers at cer- 

 tain points where its food abounds. At Hamilton Bay it occurs 

 sparingly during the migratory season, but at Rond Eau, at 

 Long Point on Lake Erie, and at the flats along the river St. 

 Clair it assembles in vast flocks in the fall to feed on the wild 

 rice. At the latter place a few pairs remain during summer and 

 rear their young, but the greater body pass farther north. 



A few years since Mr. John Bates, whose farm is on the 

 shore of Hamilton Bay near the Waterworks, noticed a female of 

 the species late in the fall, associating with his tame ducks; it was 

 shy, and kept away from the house for a time, but as the season 



