380 HISTRIONICUS HISTRIONICUS 



of less than two yards from the water. On some small islands formed by the cutting 

 through of a lava dam by a rapid stream, six nests with eggs were found. Three of 

 them were only two feet from the rushing water under the leaves of wild angelica. 

 The others were in holes in the bank near the water and sheltered by a screen of 

 overhanging plants. Occasionally nests have been found ten to twenty yards from 

 the water (Slater, 1901). In any case they are usually well concealed. 



As to nesting sites in trees, second-hand observations were mentioned by Merriam 

 (1883) for Newfoundland and by Shepard for Iceland (in Baird, Brewer and Ridg- 

 way, 1884). It seems very doubtful whether such localities are ever resorted to. 



The nest itself is not characteristic, except for the gray down, which is coarser and 

 larger than that of other Iceland ducks (H. J. and C. E. Pearson, 1895). The clutch 

 is not particularly large, usually numbering from six to eight, and occasionally as 

 many as ten. The eggs are yellowish white to rich cream-color and average 57.55 by 

 41.52 mm. In length they vary from 53.6 to 62.1 mm. and in breadth from 38.7 to 

 44.5 mm. (Hartert, 1920a). The incubation period has not been well determined, 

 but it is surely a long one. It was estimated by Hantzsch (1905) at three and one 

 half weeks which is evidently too short, while five weeks (C. B. Smith, 1908) is cer- 

 tainly far too long. Hugh Wormald hatched some eggs gathered in Iceland in the 

 season of 1923. They were about three or three and a half weeks old when they 

 arrived, rather fresher than various other Iceland duck eggs received at the same 

 time, but they took just thirty-one days. 



Toward the end of June the males begin to gather in flocks, but they do not all 

 leave the vicinity of the nesting areas. Hantzsch (1905) found numbers of them on 

 fresh water throughout the summer in Iceland and says they not infrequently rejoin 

 the females and young when the latter go to the salt water in August or September. 

 The females must moult their primaries very late in the summer or even in the au- 

 tumn, for Allan Brooks writes me that in British Columbia he once shot a female 

 with two full-grown young on their way to the coast on August 30. This particular 

 female had not yet moulted her wing-feathers. 



Old males in full eclipse were seen on the coasts of British Columbia toward the 

 end of July, but they were still able to fly. These males, both on the coast and in 

 the interior, become flightless in late August. One taken on September 3 had com- 

 pletely new wing-feathers, while most of the body plumage and the head was still in 

 eclipse (A. Brooks, in litt.). The pre-eclipse and post-eclipse stages are irregular as 

 to time in all ducks but they seem to be especially so in some of the sea ducks. 



Status. In Iceland, since the game laws went into effect, there has apparently 

 been a rapid increase, and the species is now spoken of as common. They were 

 formerly shot by the Icelanders in both the open and the closed seasons (Slater, 

 1901; et al). 



