Among the Water Fowl 



while I set up the camera and snapped at them 

 the instant the hat was removed. As soon as we 

 allowed them to they all streamed out of the nest, 



and down the 

 bank into the 

 water, to join 

 their distressed 

 mother, who was 

 flapping about 

 near the shore 

 calling to them 

 i n a plaintive 

 manner. In one 

 patch of lowrose- 

 bushes there 

 were three 

 Ducks' nests 

 withm less than 

 ten feet — a Sco- 

 ter's with twelve eggs, a Gadwall's with eleven, and 

 a Scaup's with ten — quite an aggregation, those 

 thirty-three eggs! 



During a week's time that we spent among the 

 sloughs first mentioned in this chapter, from June 

 7 to 14, we found a considerable number of nests 

 of the Canvasback, Redhead, and Ruddy Ducks, 

 built out in the reeds over water averaging knee- 

 deep, all of which made a very interesting study. 

 The Ruddy Ducks were only just laying, and had 

 anywhere from one to ten eggs. These nests, un- 

 like the one previously mentioned, were well hidden 

 away in the reeds, usually in the midst of a large 

 clump or tract in the very thickest of the vegeta- 



202 



■ A SHOVELER FLUSHED AT OUR FEET FROM THE GRASS, 

 AND THERE WERE TEN YOUNG IN THE NEST" 



