THE WOOD-DUCK. 
307 
canvas-back could scarcely have been more so. These ducks 
are summer \asitors to our lake. Unlike others of their family, 
they build nests in trees. They are said to be one of the two 
most beautiful species in the world, the other being the Mandarin 
Duck of China. Ours are chiefly confined to the fresh waters of 
the interior, being seldom found on the sea-shore. They are said 
frequently to build in the same tree for several seasons. Mr. 
Wilson gives a pleasing account of a nest he had seen on the 
banks of the Tuckahoe River, New Jersey : — " The tree was an 
old grotesque white oak, whose top had been torn off by a storm. 
In this hollow and broken top, and about six feet down, on the 
soft, decayed wood, lay tliirteen eggs, snugly covered with down, 
doubtless taken from the breast of the bird. The eggs were of 
the highest polish, fine in the grain, greatly resembling old pol- 
ished ivory. This tree had been occupied, probably by the same 
pair, for four successive years in breeding-time ; the person w^ho 
gave me the information, and whose house was within twenty or 
thirty yards of the tree, said that he had seen the female, the 
spring preceding, carry down thirteen young, one by one, in less 
than ten minutes. She caught them in her bill by the wing, or 
the back of the neck, and landed them safely at the foot of the 
tree, when she afterward led them to the water. Under this 
same tree, at the time I visited it, a large sloop lay on the stocks, 
nearly finished ; the deck was not more than twelve feet distant 
from the nest, yet notwithstanding the presence and the noise of 
the workmen, the ducks would not abandon their old breeding- 
place, but continued to pass out and in, as if no person had been 
near. The male usually perched on an adjoining limb, and kept 
watch while the female was laying, and also often while she was 
