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BUCEPHALA CLANGULA 



level with the opening or down to almost any depth, one being as far down as fifteen 

 feet (Brewster, 1900). The nest is sometimes placed in openings in horizontal limbs 

 (Seebohm, 1885) and one was found in a prostrate cotton-wood log in Canada 

 (Spreadborough, in J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909). Harper (MS.) writes that in the 

 Athabasca region the great balsam poplars that grow along the lower river are the 

 nesting places par excellence. Aged white poplars (Populus tremuloides) , canoe birches 

 and others make good hollows for them, while in Maine such large hardwood trees 

 as elms, maples, and yellow and white (canoe) birches are mentioned (Brewster). 

 Lumbering operations that have flooded most of the shore lines of our larger eastern 

 lakes, killing all the trees, have probably provided a very good, although temporary 

 supply of nesting cavities. 



A very odd site for a nest was described in a letter from F. L. Farley of Camrose, 

 Alberta (U.S. Biological Survey field-notes). He found one in the blind chimney 

 of a house in the town, where a pair had reared a brood for seven years. When 

 hatched the young crept up the brick sides of the chimney and tumbled out on the roof. 



Merrikallis (quoted in Bull. British Ornith. Club, vol. 40, p. 151, 1920) speaks of 

 a nest found in a church in northern Finland. 



We cannot go on to an account of the eggs without mentioning the custom of the 

 natives of northern Finland (Lappmark) and the Swedish frontier of placing boxes 

 on trees for the purpose of attracting these ducks as well as Goosanders and Smews. 

 Needless to say the purpose is purely utilitarian for the eggs are much appreciated 

 in these far-northern and henless regions, and by judicious collecting as many as 

 twenty or thirty are taken from one box. This interesting custom was first men- 

 tioned by Linnaeus in his "Tour of Lapland" in 1732 and a good first-hand account 

 was written down by the collector, John Wolley, in 1853 (A.Newton, 1907). The boxes 

 called by various local names are by preference on more or less isolated trees, fre- 

 quently near houses and often back on the side of a hill away from water. The box is 

 called "Fogel Tulle," "Tiller" or "Uu" in Finnish and "Halk" in Swedish and the 

 word at first referred (in some regions) to the roll of birch bark used as a float for 

 fishing nets, indicating that the first "Tylly " was probably just a roll of bark. As 

 now used these artificial cavities are made from a section of the trunk of a small hol- 

 low tree with a hole in it large enough to admit a man's hand and the box so con- 

 structed is hung on a peg with the owner's name indicated. It is said to be necessary 

 to stuff all cracks with moss but it does not matter whether the inside is smooth or 

 rough. It seems to be important to place the box in a conspicuous place and on no 

 account should there be any branches to interfere with the bird's arrival and de- 

 parture. The openings are made purposely very small. 



With the progressive deforestation in Finland the Golden-eyes seem to be more 

 and more dependent on these nest-boxes. Merrikallis (loc. cit.) says he has seen them 

 fixed to a telephone pole ten meters from the farmhouse window. 



