Sept, 1914 
SURVEY OF BREEDING GROUNDS OF DUCKS 
223 
fully with the damp black earth on which the nest is most often directly 
placed. 
Pour broods of downy young Cinnamon Teal were seen, and a “flopper”, 
about half-grown, which represented another brood, was noted. In no ease 
did the broods number more than eight and most of them numbered six or 
seven. The downy young look much like those of the Mallard, both species 
having extensive yellow on the sides of the head. In the specimens of Cinna- 
mon Teal at hand, however, the dark-colored stripes on the sides of the head 
are not so conspicuous and the stripe between the base of the bill and the eye 
is indistinct. The bill, too, is narrower. The broods were invariably found 
along the marshy margins of ponds, these constituting their preferred forage 
grounds. The stomach of a young one contained parts of one seed which was 
so ground up that identification was impossible. 
Fig. 66. Nest and Eggs op Pintail {Dafila acuta) ; near Pennington, Sutter 
County, California; May 25, 1914. 
The Cinamon Teal is the commonest duck at Los Banos during the sum- 
mer. In a three hours walk an average of twenty individuals could be counted. 
During the period of our stay, by far the greater majority were seen in pairs, 
and this seems to show that many had not yet begun to nest. In several in- 
stances males were observed paying court to females, and in one case a fight 
between two males was witnessed. Combatants, swimming on the water, would 
face each other about a foot apart, and make lunges at each other, using both 
bill and wings as weapons. Occasionally one of the birds would avoid attack 
by diving, allowing the other to jump completely over him. Cinnamon Teal 
were the tamest of the ducks found in this vicinity. Occasionally a person 
could approach within twenty feet of a feeding pair. The male is apparently 
silent; the female is the one which quacks and is always the first to take 
alarm and fly. 
