WOOD DUCK. 77 



been observed only as passing migrants in spring and fall. The 

 Wood Duck has frequently been domesticated, and adds greatly to 

 the interest and beauty of an artificial pond in a pleasure ground. 



The fact of its nesting in a hole in a tree is one of the interesting 

 points in the history of the Wood Duck, although it is not the only 

 duck with this habit. 



The hole selected is a natural cavity, a woodpecker's or squirrel's 

 hole, or the decayed end of a broken branch. The nest is warmly 

 lined with feathers, and there the female rests in peace during incu- 

 bation, her lord having for the time deserted her society for that of 

 his own sex. If the nest is placed over the water, the young soon 

 after being hatched, scramble up to the edge, spread their little wings 

 and feet and courageously take their first leap in life toward the 

 water. If it is a short distance off, the mother takes the tiny 

 youngsters gently in her bill and drops them carefully on the surface, 

 where for many days she stays with them, directing all their 

 movements. 



The Wood Duck, though found in all parts of Ontario, except 

 perhaps in the extreme north, is nowhere abundant throughout the 

 Province. At St. Clair Flats it used to breed in considerable 

 numbers, but of late years has not been so often observed. 



Throughout the North- West it is mentioned as a rare summer 

 resident, and among the birds of Alaska it does not appear at all. 



In some of the States to the west of us, in the interior, these 

 ducks are said to be abundant, keeping by themselves in large flocks 

 in the fall, as the Redheads and Bluebills do. Dr. Hatch, in the 

 " Birds of Minnesota," says of them : " Arriving simultaneously with 

 the other early species, none other braves the last rigors of the 

 departing winter in the closing days of a Minnesota March with 

 greater spirit, and when they come, like the rains in the tropics, they 

 pour in until every pool in the woodlands has been deluged with 

 them. This may sound strangely and exaggerated to ears unfamiliar 

 with the history of bird-life on the borders of civilization, yet such 

 has heretofore been my personal observation at the very location of 

 our city " (Minneapolis). 



