SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks 



Breeds : Through its range. 



Nest : Usually a feather-lined hollow in a partly decayed tree, near 



water and often at a considerable distance from the ground. 

 Eggs : A dozen or more, varying according to the age of the bird, 



either greenigh, clay-coloured, or pale buff, and smooth. 

 Range : North America, wintering in the Southern States. 



This is the most beautiful of the native Ducks, taking its 

 specific name, sponsa, betrothed, from the richness of its 

 plumage, which gives it a bridal or festive appearance. It 

 is a fresh-water Duck, and exclusively so in the selection of 

 its breeding-haunts. 



It arrives from the first to the middle of April, and locates 

 either in deep woods near water, or in narrow wooded belts 

 that follow the course of small rivers. Sometimes a hole in 

 a horizontal limb is chosen for the nest that seems far too 

 small to hold the duck's plump body ; occasionally it utilizes 

 the hole of an Owl or Woodpecker, the entrance to which 

 has been enlarged by decay. Many stories are told of their 

 attachment to their breeding-places, but an incident which 

 happened a dozen miles from here illustrates it as well as 

 any. For several years a pair of Wood Ducks had made 

 their nest in the hollow of a hickory which stood on the 

 bank, half a dozen yards from Mill River. In preparing to 

 dam the river near this point in order to supply water to 

 a neighbouring city, the course of the river was diverted, 

 leaving the old bed an eighth of a mile behind. The water 

 might move if it chose, but not the Ducks, who continued to 

 breed in the old place. 



The young are frequently carried in the bill of their 

 parents from the nest to the water's edge, — if the nest is 

 not directly over the water, where the little birds, who leave 

 the nest as soon as hatched, can easily drop to it, breaking 

 their fall by extending their wings. 



Audubon says that when the nest is forty yards or more 

 from water, the young are led in the right direction by 

 their parents. This must have been the way that the Ducks 

 I mentioned regained the diverted stream ; for the height 

 and density of the trees between it and the nest would have 



261 



