76
Lake Umbagog.
1897.
May 24
(No 6)
  Watrous found the nest on the 23rd or[sic] when I visited
it with him on the afternoon of the next day but on 
both occasions she ran to the waters edge starting the
first time directly under foot (Watrous says he nearly stepped 
on her) the second time when I was about 8 ft. from
the nest scuttling off through the thicket nearly as fast as
a man could run on open ground. On reaching the water
she flew about 40 yards & alighted swimming slowly off
swaying her head and neck back & forward like a Fulica
as she rose and fell gracefully on the swell.
[margin]Anas obscura
Nest & eggs
3020
10[/margin]
  This nest measured in situ 12 x 13 inches across the top by
3 1/2 inches deep. I took some fine photographs of it both
before & after cutting away the spruces in the foreground.
The nest was a rather thin mat of pine needles & birch leaves
mixed with down and lining a deep symmetrical & perfectly circular 
hollow with a raised rim formed evidently by the earth
which the birds had scraped out of the middle.
  In respect to size and general construction all
three of these nests were remarkably uniform and
the distance at which they were placed from the water
was practically the same in each case but one was
in a very exposed situation, another well concealed, and
the third so perfectly hidden that without removing
or bending back some of the spruces or their branches
it would have been impossible for either man or bird
to see so much as one of the eggs either from above
or from a distance of four feet away in any direction.
  I have now no doubt that nearly all Black Ducks
which breed about this lake place their nests on island[s]
& this unquestionably is to escape danger from the Foxes.