The Fulvous Tree Duck 



Taken near Santa Barbara 



FULVOUS TREE DUCKS IN FLIGHT 



Photo by the Author 



contained 62 eggs. "The eggs were placed on a pile of dead grass which 

 had drifted together about four inches above the water, and looked as if 

 someone had emptied them carefully out of a basket, there being no 

 attempt at nest building or concealment." 



These statements raise a question not of veracity, which is unques- 

 tioned — but of emergency economy, of adjustment to new and untried 

 conditions. Similar caches, or dump heaps, but of lesser proportions, are 

 found today in these marshes — in addition to the sober and individual 

 nests which contain from 12 to 16 eggs of the rightful owner. A nest 

 which I found on the 30th of May, 191 4, contained eight eggs. On the 

 1st day of June it held fourteen eggs, and on the 2nd, seventeen; but on 

 the 4th, when it was due to have 23 eggs if three birds were contributing, 

 it held nineteen instead, and was taken. In this case there was either (1) 

 communal nesting of three pairs; or (2) a polygamous family with three 

 wives; or, lastly, and most probably, two females, whose nests had just 

 been destroyed by predatory mammals, found temporary asylum with a 

 more fortunately placed sister. It is noteworthy in this instance that the 

 owner or owners of these eggs assumed responsibility for the increased 

 product. While at the 14-egg stage, the eggs had been disposed carelessly 

 in two layers with three or four eggs on top; on the day following, the 

 seventeen eggs were all in one layer, the nest in the meantime having 

 been considerably built up and improved. On the 4th of June, however, 

 at the 19-egg stage, the two extras lay on top and the nest had been appar- 

 ently deserted, whether by reason of unwelcome additions or of unwelcome 

 attentions could not be determined. I have been thus explicit because 

 these cache nests of the Fulvous Tree Duck are the mystery of the swamps, 

 and exact observations are few or wanting. 



1879 



