129 
*
Lake Umbagog.
Leonard's Pond.
1897.
June 8
(No 4)
Tidswell's Point as well as near that at Bottle Brook
Pond. These facts lead me to believe that two or
more birds not infrequently lay their eggs in the
same nest. We know that Whistlers and Mergansers
sometimes do this & I see no reason for doubting that
the Whistlers take the same liberty with one another.
Probably all sets of over ten or twelve eggs are thus 
compounded & perhaps the normal number laid by one
bird does not exceed eight or nine. It would be
interesting to learn whether or no the labor of
incubation is fairly divided and also if all the young
are cared for by own parents. The mysterious disappearance
of four of the eggs from the nest watched this morning
suggests that they may have hatched and the young
have been taken away by another bird.
[margin] * Two or
more ducks
lay in 
same nest. [/margin]
  Of another thing I am pretty well satisfied viz. that
the Whistler is often polygamous. I have seen here
this season only four drakes (one near the nest
at Peaslee's brook with a single female (we saw only one) one at
Tidswell's Point with four females, one at the Outlet
with at least five or six females, one at Battle Brook 
Pond with five females) to at least twenty & probably 
thirty females.
[margin]Whistlers
polygamous[/margin]
  Watrous thinks that the number of eggs in a nest
corresponds pretty closely with its capacity & I believe 
that he is right. When the cavity is small at the
bottom the bird that takes possession of it fills it
with her own set. When it is large other Whistlers
& occasionally a Merganser, also, lay in it until
it can hold no more eggs. John Brown of Upton
tells me that he once took 21 eggs from a Goseander's nest.