Notes from Field and Study 
making a sufficient flooring for their nest. 
Here they had piled and woven together 
a lot of material, in the top of which, 
right under the eaves, they had formed a 
cosy nest, and had reared 
at least one brood, per- 
haps two,as they began to 
breed early in the spring. 
My friends insist that 
no person had, to their 
knowledge, placed the 
cob there, nor do they 
believe any one did. 
What motive could any 
person have had for put- 
ting a cob in such a 
place? The birds left 
one end of the cob ex- 
tending out on the near 
side of the nest, afford- 
ing them a perch to 
stand on while they fed 
their bantlings. My 
friends and I can come 
to only one conclusion— 
that the Sparrows them- 
selves carried the cob up 
to the brackets and 
placed it in _ position. 
But how did they do this? 
The cob was a good-sized 
one. Do other observers 
know of similar in- 
Stances?—LEANDER S. 
Keyser, Canal Dover, 
Ohio. 
Some Rare Ducks Wintering Near 
Boston 
It is the custom with the park authori- 
ties in Boston, when the ponds are freezing, 
to catch the tame Ducks and put them 
im winter quarters. For several years past, 
a number of the tame Mallards have 
refused to go into the cage, and have 
flown about during the winter from place 
to place in the park system, seeking the 
small open places of water. 
One of these refuges, always open, is 
near the lower end of Leverett Pond. 
This pond is a small body of water bor- 
‘dered on one side by the most populous 
CANVASBACK, BALDPATE, AND. IN FOREGROUND, A 
145 
part of Brookline Village, and crossed 
at its lower end by a broad thoroughfare, 
on which pass a constant stream of 
vehicles and electric cars. 
The waters 
ot 
PAIR OF TAME MALLARDS 
Photograpked by W. C. Levey 
of a good-sized brook, led underground 
through the village and becoming tem- 
pered thereby, empty into the lower end 
of the pond, and prevent it from ever 
entirely freezing over. 
Jamaica Pond is another and much 
larger body of water, a little farther up 
the same park system. With the tame 
Ducks acting as decoys, many migrating 
Ducks are attracted here in the fall. 
Most of these Ducks remain contentedly 
until the pond freezes over, when they, 
presumably, seek a warmer clime. 
During the winter of 10908-1900, 
however, a male Baldpate, a rare Duck 
in this vicinity, stayed on Jamaica Pond 
