348 
ANAS BAHAMENSIS 
including water-boatmen, a water-creeper and young snails. Vegetable matter in 
the stomachs of these young consisted of the seeds of fox-tail grass {Choefochloa sp.), 
barnyard grass {Echinochloa crusgalli) and a species of Guinea grass {_Pan{c 2 im sp.). 
Courtship and Nesting. With any species having such a tropical distribution 
it is obviously impossible to define the breeding period. In the West Indies it is a 
late-spring nester: the recorded nests have been found in late May (Cory, 1890; 
Wetmore, 1916). In the Argentine, males taken in late September had the sex 
glands either large or in the process of development (Beck, MS.), which indicates 
that it breeds in late October or early November. 
The display was first described by Goeldi (1894-1900) and does not seem to have 
been carefully observed by any one else. I only once observed it in a single pinioned 
male, which at the time was kept in a small enclosed pond with Teal and a pair of 
Gadwall. It was on June 4, a late date. After one or two preliminary movements, 
such as extending the neck upward and holding it stiffly, there followed a very 
peculiar and definite performance. The bird suddenly cast himself forward on his 
breast, at the same time throwing his head back, spreading and elevating his tail 
and apparently slightly raising the tertials and scapulars. It seemed to me also that 
the wings were slightly opened. This single exhibition lasted about one and a half 
seconds, and was accompanied by three or four very low squeaky notes. In the 
fifteen or twenty minutes that I watched the bird, this display was repeated seven or 
eight times. The nuptial flight, if there is one, has never been described. 
There is nothing characteristic in the position chosen for the nest, and the nest 
itself is merely a poorly constructed mat of any available material, probably always 
placed on the ground. When Mr. Fuertes was on Andros Island, Bahamas, painting 
the Flamingo colony, he wrote me that he had failed to find any nests himself, but 
he was told by a man named Bannister that the birds nested there in low man- 
groves from one to four feet above the ground, in places where the tide came and 
went. No actual nests have yet been described from such peculiar situations, and 
the statement requires further proof, but if such situations are commonly chosen, it 
would explain very well the apparent scarcity of nests in this species. 
The clutch varies in size from six to nine, the average being about seven. The 
eggs are long and narrow, much more so than those of the Brown Pintail. They are 
uniform cream to reddish cream-color and measure 55-59 by 37-39 mm. The in- 
cubation period in the wild is not known, but captive-laid eggs have hatched in from 
twenty-five to twenty-six days (Wormald, in Utt.). During the nesting period the 
male is said to remain in the immediate vicinity (F. P. and A. P. Penard, 1908-10). 
No one has noticed whether he accompanies the brood, but I feel convinced from the 
nature of the species, and the similar plumage of the sexes, that such may be the 
case. 
