BLUE-WINGED TEAL 
383 
Courtship and Nesting. ^Miether or not Blue-wings mate later than other 
ducks is an open question, but their migration in the spring is so long delayed that 
their presence in southern localities in May has created the impression that they 
breed more commonly in the South than is actually the case. 
The display, which I have seen many times, is tame and rather uninteresting, 
entirely different from that of the Mallard, Green-winged Teal or Pintail and more 
related to that of the Cinnamon Teal or the Shoveller. It consists of an active bob- 
bing of the head up and down and at the same time a little forward and backward. 
I have often seen the female facing the male and going through the same head per- 
formance, although less vigorously. The squeaking note of the male is heard at this 
time, but is not a very prominent part of the courtship. 
The species is a late breeder. The clutches are completed about the same time as 
with the Shoveller and Red-head, and approximately a month later than with the 
Mallard and Pintail. Clutches seem to be completed in late May or early June all the 
way from New Mexico to the northern part of the breeding range. An early nest, with 
only two eggs, was found by Spreadborongh {fide J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909) near 
Edmonton, Alberta, on May 19. The earliest nest found by Rockwell (1911) near 
Barr Lake, Colorado, contained eleven eggs and was taken on May 24. The average 
date for complete clutches in this latter region was June 1. In North Dakota the 
average date was also June 1 (Job, 1902). In western Nebraska nests were found 
from May 30 to June 22 (Oberholser, 1920; D. Bumstead, U.S. Biological Survey) 
and in southwestern Saskatchewan sixteen nests were taken by Bent (1907) between 
June 13 and July 9. In the isolated breeding colony in the Grenadines, at Isle 
Rhonde, Wells (1887) claims to have taken a nest on January 3! In southern Texas 
and Louisiana April seems to be the ordinary time. 
The nests may be in a variety of situations. Sometimes they are exposed and easy 
to find, but usually they are well concealed among the vegetation and covered over 
by grass. Most nests are on dry ground near the water, but some have been found 
in dense cat-tail growth, and they are not uncommonly placed on the dry prairie, far 
from the water’s edge. In the Barr Lake region of Colorado Rockwell (1911) found 
nests in reeds, on soggy spongy ground, under irrigation dykes, at the edge of beaten 
paths near the lake shore, by roadsides back from the water, among dry weeds and 
sand of the prairie, amidst the dense rank grass on a tiny island, in alfalfa-fields, on 
grassy flats, and in cavities in and upon muskrat houses. According to W. L. Daw- 
son and Bowles (1909) nests have been found within six or eight feet of a railroad 
track. In North Dakota as many as twelve pairs have been found breeding in an 
area of only about eighty acres (U.S. Biological Survey). 
The nest itself is like that of other ducks; the amount of care taken in the con- 
struction is very variable. The material used is ordinarily grass, but at other times 
reeds, rushes, leaves and trash are employed. 
