62 LAMPRONESSA SPONSA 



three or four males on Massachusetts streams in the latter part of May. Audubon 

 says that the males do not join the females again until the young are able to fly, and 

 according to what I have seen and read this is true. The broods of young in our 

 eastern States are certainly very seldom guarded or attended by the male, yet there 

 are evidently exceptions to this general rule, for Mr. Dixon has noted the proximity 

 of the male in California throughout the whole period of incubation and his presence 

 the very day the ducklings were hatched. 



There are so many interesting observations made upon the free-flying Berlin Caro- 

 lina Ducks that I must mention some of them in connection with the laying and 

 sitting period, for American writers since Audubon have with few exceptions made 

 no detailed observations. These Zoological Garden birds laid their eggs at the rate 

 of one a day and ordinarily completed the clutch in eleven days. When the first 

 clutch was taken away, the second eggs were not smaller, but the third laying was 

 slightly reduced in size. The eggs were laid in the morning hours and while laying 

 the last eggs the duck remained on the nest a longer time. The male accompanied 

 his mate to the nest but did not always sit close at hand waiting for her to come out. 

 Some males left the females as soon as the latter arrived at the nest and the habit of 

 accompanying the female stopped entirely when incubation began. A female which 

 was under very close observation from a concealed post left the nest regularly at 

 half -past eleven in the morning. A quarter of an hour before this she became restless 

 and began to stuff the down beneath her from the edge of the nest. She frequently 

 sat down and got up again. After the down had been carefully arranged over the 

 eggs the bird came to the entrance of the box and immediately flew away. During 

 all manipulations of the nest the bird was very careful with the eggs and seemed 

 never to place her feet directly upon the eggs, but rather on the sides or edges of 

 the nest. 



The daily absence from incubation of Heinroth's females was from one-half hour 

 to an hour. When the duck was disturbed she never covered the eggs and was then 

 usually absent for some time, combining her enforced absence with her usual rest. 

 During this period the eggs remained completely exposed, but came to no harm, and 

 only the restlessness which overcame the bird shortly before the daily recess led to 

 the instinctive covering of the clutch. Dixon's females (wild) in California left the 

 nest regularly in the morning and the evening and were absent an hour or so. There 

 is a great variation in the reaction of different individuals to outside disturbance. 

 Some become very sensitive, while others will tolerate handling. I remember one of 

 my own Carolina Ducks sitting in a box in a brooding condition that had to be 

 forcibly ejected, although she had no eggs under her. A most interesting type of 

 behavior in the brooding female was noticed by Dixon and shows a very different 

 response to different sorts of outside disturbances. For instance, when any person 

 approached the nest tree, talking or whistling as he went, the female simply left the 



