ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 1 



common ducks, of every variety of color. 



They will build at a long distance from 

 the water if they find a suitable tree, and 

 when they hatch will carry their young 

 one by one in their bills to the water, until 

 they have the whole brood there. Former- 

 ly a Mr. Dickerson collected many eggs 

 each year and set them under common 

 barnyard ducks. He was very successful 

 with them. The writer has bought many 

 2Dairs from him. 



They will lay in confinement if a hollow 

 log is provided, and sit and hatch as well 

 as the tame ducks. 



Sometimes the owner would exchange 

 the Wood Duck eggs with a common duck, 

 but it seldom happened that the Wood 

 Duck failed to bring out her brood. A 

 farmer in Ocean County, N. J., found a 

 nest of eggs and set them under a hen 

 and was successful in raising several young 

 ones, which proved to be quite tame. We 

 have seen them flying around the town 

 (having been left unpinioned,) and they al- 

 ways returned to their home. Some were 

 sold, but a dog destroyed the others. 

 The young ducks are very pretty, and 

 when startled they will fairly run on top 

 of the water, their feet going so fast as to 

 make the water buzz. 



I have known the Wood Duck, when 

 wounded, to dive and hold on to the grass 

 at the bottom for what seemed to be five 

 minutes, until I had moved the boat some 

 distance and reached down with an oar to 

 bring up the bird. The circumstance 

 brought to my mind the Divers (ducks) on 

 Lake Geneva in Switzerland, which were 

 quite tame and lived near a bridge where 

 visitors would throw grain in the water 

 and they would dive to the bottom and 

 pick up the grains. The water being per- 

 fectly clear, allowed every motion of the 

 duck to be seen, and we were astonished 

 to See how long they could remain under 

 water, diving from ten to twenty feet, and 

 perhaps even deeper. 



In the Pall you will see the ducks eat- 

 ing acorns under the trees on the edge of 

 the water, and, as they hear the acorns 

 drop in the water they will go for them. I 

 have heard of gunners snapping pebbles 

 with their thumbs into the water near trees 

 to decoy the ducks. In keeping them in 

 confinement, it is necessary to give them 

 plenty of green food and gravel. 



The Mandarin Duck of China is similar 

 to the Wood Duck in size and is even 

 more brilliant in color. It is considered a 

 sacred bird. One hundred dollars and 

 even more has been paid for a pair of 

 these birds. 



Having in former years kept many 

 Wood Ducks, the writer learned to admire 

 them for their extreme shyness. They 

 would prove a valuable addition to the 

 poultry yard. They are strictly monaga- 

 mous in this section of the country. — B. B. 



Michigan Notes. 



From several well filled pages of my 

 note book, I take the following, perhaps of 

 not much interest, but still sufficient, I 

 hope, to show that a change of base from 

 Maine to Michigan has not interrupted 

 my work. 



I am surprised to find the Bald Eagle 

 (FT. leucocephalus) so common in this lo- 

 cality. At the Tabico Marshes, some 

 eight miles from here on the Bay shore, 

 this bird has frequently been observed and 

 on Oct. 7th, three were seen at one time on 

 a tall dead pine near the edge of the 

 marsh. Yesterday a fine adult bird was 

 noticed hovering high in the air above the 

 city. 



The Carolina Rail (P. Carolina) was 

 very plentiful at these same marshes and 

 one might almost imagine himself on their 

 favorite grounds of the Atlantic coast. 

 By the first week in October, not a bird 

 was to be seen, the cold weather having 

 hurried them off on their Southern 

 journey. 



