THE SUMMER DUCK. 211 
bling old polished ivory. The egg measured two inches 
and an eighth by one inch and a half. On breaking one 
of them, the young bird was found to be nearly hatched, 
but dead, as neither of the parents had been observed 
about the tree during the three or four days preceding, 
and were conjectured to have been shot. 
“This tree had been occupied, probably, by the same 
pair, for four successive years, in breeding time; the 
person who gave me the information, and whose house 
was within twenty or thirty yards of the tree, said that 
he had seen the female, the spring preceding, carry down 
thirteen young, one by one, in less than ten minutes. 
She caught them in her bill by the wing or back of the 
neck, and landed them safely at the foot of the tree, 
whence she afterward led them to the water. Under 
this same tree, at the time I visited it, a large sloop lay 
on the stocks, nearly finished; the deck was not more 
than twelve feet distant from the nest, yet notwithstand- 
ing the presence and noise of the workmen, the ducks 
would not abandon their old breeding place, but contin- 
ued to pass out and in, as if no person had been near. 
The male usually perched on an adjoining limb, and 
kept watch while the female was laying, and also often 
while she was sitting. A tame goose had chosen a hol- 
low space at the root of the same tree, to lay and hatch 
her young in. 
“The Summer Duck seldom flies in flocks of more 
than three or four individuals together, and most com- 
