The Wood Duck 



frequent, or used to frequent, secluded swamps, lagoons, and shaded 

 waterways. They are swift and graceful fliers, and they are able to tra- 

 verse the mazes of the forest with the ease of pigeons. They perch read- 

 ily upon the branches of trees, and even walk along them without hesi- 

 tancy. To the aquatic fare offered by the surface and depths of woodland 

 pools, is added the flying insects of the forest home, and the tender shoots 

 and leaves of plants in spring. Acorns are a favorite food in fall, and 

 upon these the birds sometimes stuff themselves to repletion. They 

 evince an interest in fallen rice also; and if the stock could be nursed back 

 to normality, they would doubtless do their part in protecting the rice 

 grower against the "volunteer" crop which he so much dreads. 



Most curious are the Wood Duck's nesting habits, with which our 

 fathers, in some of the older settled portions of the State, were as familiar 

 as we are with those of the Towhee. The birds were nearly resident, but 

 there was a little shifting of position in the springtime. Winter ranges, 

 selected with a view to forage, were exchanged for others more sheltered, 

 or where neglected timber offered appropriate building sites. A site was 

 chosen in the hollow of a broken branch of a tree — an oak, a willow, or 

 a sycamore — in a deserted woodpecker hole enlarged by weathering, or 

 in the central hollow of some tree to which admission must be gained 

 through a crevice. Those holes which overlooked water were much pre- 

 ferred, but in the absence of such, the Bride and Groom would sometimes 

 take up residence half a mile from the nearest swamp or stream. Within 

 the chosen hollow from eight to seventeen eggs, "resembling old polished 

 ivory," were placed on a cushion of grasses, leaves, feathers, and down. 

 Occasionally the entrance to a nesting hole was so narrow that the female 

 in visiting her eggs was obliged to spend some time in squeezing through, 

 and instances not a few are on record where the shell of the egg of the 

 straining bird was cracked before deposition. In an instance reported 

 by Mr. Roswell S. Wheeler, in Sacramento County, the bird burrowed 

 into a hay-mow, to which access had been gained by a fortunate hole in 

 the side of the barn, and there, through the kindly vigilance of the farmer, 

 she successfully brought off her brood. 



The female sits for four weeks, during which time the drake is likely 

 to make himself scarce, or at least not manifest, in that vicinity. It is 

 said, however, that the male mounts a wary guard in some neighboring 

 tree and apprizes his mate of approaching danger by a strange cry, 

 "oe-eek," like the crowing of a young cock. No attempt is made by 

 the male to supply the sitting bird with food ; but if the locality is one 

 not particularly exposed to danger, he will join her in the hour or so of 

 forage-vacation which she allows herself in the course of the day. 



When the young are hatched, they instinctively scramble to the 



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