Michigan Ornithological Club 71 



Passenger Pigeon will probably never again be witnessed — they have gone, 

 never to return. No more will they visit the shores of Michigan, for like 

 Hamlet's ghost, they have departed forever, and the only thing I have left 

 which reminds me of those days of yore is that old pigeon stool which lies 

 in the attic. 



Plymouth, Mich., August 5, l 9°3- 



MERGANSER AMERICANUS NESTING AT SAGINAW BAY, MICHI- 

 GAN, 1902 AND 1903. 



EDWARD ARNOLD. 



The latter part of March, 1902, I was on Heisterman's Island looking for 

 nests of the Bald Eagle (Haliocctus Icucoccphalus) . I found an old nest and 

 thought perhaps the birds were on North Island, about a mile distant, 30 

 went to that island and found a large nest in a pine tree. The Eagles had 

 left this nest and a pair of Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginanus) were in 

 possession and had' young at this date. 



While standing close to a hollow tree a female American Merganser 

 (Merganser americanus) rlew around my head squaking, and I knew I was 

 close to her nesting site. On the 13th of May, the same year, I revisited the 

 island looking for her eggs. Went at once to the hollow tree where I 

 thought the eggs were, climbed it and as I got close to the hole the 1 female 

 left, and I was more than pleased to look down upon the eight very beautiful 

 eggs in a nest of down. Incubation had just begun. I put the eggs into a box, 

 packed them carefully in cotton, descended the tree and spent one hour at 

 the foot of the tree blowing the eggs. During this time the female flew 

 over head a number of times squaking. I could have killed her easily, but did 

 not as I had collected several and knew my bird well. 



The eggs are very handsome, and are nearly as large as those of the 

 White winged Scoter (Oidcmia dclandi), are highly polished creamy buff color 

 and different from any other Duck eggs in color, shape and size. The eight 

 eggs measure as follows: 2.70 x 1.90, 2.70 x 1.90, 2.69 x 1.89, 2.75 x 1.88, 

 2.64 x 1.93, 2.79 x 1.88, 2.79 x 1.59 and 2.78 x 1.88. The down of the nest 

 is a beautiful light gray color. 



On May 12th, of this year, I made a careful search of this island, but 

 found no Mergansers nests. A Mallard (Anas boschas) was sitting on her 

 nest and ten eggs in the grass and bushes near shore. I did not disturb her. 

 I went over to Heisterman's Island, and after a hard day's tramp and climb- 

 ing about twenty trees, I at last located another Merganser nest in a hole in 

 a tree about ten feet above the ground. The female was sitting on the eggs 

 and looked very nice surrounded by a large nest of down. She made a 

 hissing noise and refused to leave her eggs. I could not reach her or the 

 eggs and as the tree was alive I had to get my little axe to work. So I 

 strapped myself to the tree just above the sitting bird. I soon had a small 

 hole into the interior and saw the female through it. I tried to shoo her off 

 her eggs, but she refused to move. I kept on chopping as I had to make the 

 hole large enough to get the eggs out. 



The chips'kept flying inside and outside the tree, many of them struck 

 the bird, but still she refused to fly. Finally I had the hole large enough and 

 at last pushed Mrs. M. Americanus off her eggs. She scrambled up and out 

 of the entrance hole. I found eleven eggs and a beautiful nest of down 

 Incubation had begun. The eggs closely resembled my first set, and are 

 now in a private collection on the Pacific Coast. 



