NESTING OF THE MERGANSER 



(Mergus Americanus) In 1913. 



By William 5. Post 



The last place one would think a duck would choose 

 for a nesting site would be a hole in a tree. 



We have all read of the little Wood Ducks' pref- 

 erence for the hollow top of a large dead stub, or a 

 hole in a tree not far from a river or lake, and we can 

 with some effort extend the thought to include the 

 Golden Eye or the little Buffalo Head, both small 

 birds and quick on the wing without evoking an invol- 

 untary mental protest, but when we find the Ameri- 

 can Merganser, the largest of the Sheldrakes, in fact 

 from its size sometimes called the Goosander, select- 

 ing a Pileated Woodpecker's hole forty or fifty feet 

 high in the broken off dead limb of a live elm, it must 

 be acknowledged that it is a strange choice of a place 

 in which to hatch a brood of ten or a dozen hungry 

 and energetic young ducklings, fully equipped at the 

 start with powers and knowledge of how to swim and 

 dive even in the most rapid water, but totally without 

 wing feathers or means of getting to the water from 

 this lofty home. 



The entrance to the hole itself seems far smaller 

 than the feathered body of the Merganser and the 

 old duck must dive into it in full flight ; but while this 

 adds to the inconvenience to her, it is second in im- 

 portance to the problem presented after the young are 

 hatched, which I have twice seen solved in a most un- 

 expected way. 



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