Sept, 1914 
SURVEY OF BREEDING GROUNDS OF DUCKS 
221 
neath the mother. Some were standing nearly erect whereas others were 
crouching, hut all were huddled close together. They remained perfectly mo- 
tionless while, leaving Kendall to watch, I went for the camera. I had gone 
over a hundred yards before they moved. By the time I returned they had 
wandered off about ten 
yards. They marched in 
single file and every now 
and then huddled close 
together posing motion- 
less for a few moments. 
The mother came within 
twelve feet of us a num- 
ber of times. She repeat- 
ed from time to time a so- 
norous quack; but when 
we moved to a little dis- 
tance she approached the 
ducklings and began call- 
ing them with a rapid se- 
ries of short quacks, to 
which the young respond- 
ed by quickly following 
their mother as she wad- 
dled off to the nearest 
water. Another brood of almost the same age was discovered on the afternoon 
of the same day, the 21st (see fig. 63). The wind was blowing hard and the 
mother with her eight downy young had sought the shelter of a bush on the 
bank of a large pond. She 
was very solicitous for her 
young, and in her attempt to 
lead us away she fluttered 
along the ground, flew about 
our heads, or swam in anxi- 
ous manner in the nearby 
pond. 
The Pintail evidently 
nests commonly in the vicin- 
ity of Los Banos. The almost 
equal number of sets of 
fresh eggs and broods of 
downy young found lead 
us to conclude that our visit 
there occurred during the 
height of the breeding sea- Fig. 65. Nest of Black-Necked Stilt: a well 
son. The downy young constructed example, built up well above 
have so little yellow surface of water to escape flooding; Los Banos, 
about the head, and the 
two dark lines on the side of the head are so conspicuous, that there is 
little trouble in distinguishing them from the downy young of the Mallard or 
Cinnamon Teal. Like the young of the Mallard the young Pintail is an expert 
diver. Two kept for a time in captivity were very fond of house flies and were 
Fig. 64. Nest of Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus 
mex icanus) •. ia crude affair built flat on the 
ground; Los Banos, May, 1914. 
