224 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
Erismatura jaraaicensis. Ruddy Duck. Ruddies were commonly seen 
in pairs in the deeper sloughs and larger ponds near patches of tules. A nest 
containing four eggs was found on a small sedge-covered island on the rim of 
an earth duck blind. The nest was simply a crushed-down place in the sedge, 
there having been no obvious attempt to make use of building material. There 
was a very little lining composed of large whitish down-feathers. Very little 
attempt at concealment could have been made in this case, for the large white 
eggs were in plain sight when the nest was still eight feet from the observer. 
A pair of Ruddies was nearly always to be seen near the nesting site. The 
facts that this species was nearly always seen in pairs and that we found only 
the one nest, and that one with an incomplete set, led us to believe that the 
season of nesting with the Ruddy Duck was not yet well under way. 
Dendrocygna bicolor. Fulvous Tree-duck. One of our most interesting 
finds was a nest of the Fulvous Tree-duck, discovered on May 12, 1914. The 
nest was situated on a hummock in the middle of a marsh between two ponds. 
The nest was a well-woven one of dry sedges placed about six inches above the 
ground in a tall clump of sedge and weeds. The cavity was about five inches 
deep and in it lay twelve ashy white eggs. A few days later the nest was raid- 
ed by some predaceous animal and all the eggs destroyed. On May 18 we dis- 
covered a second nest in the same swamp. This one was built about six inches 
above the water in a small clump of sedge and contained but four eggs. The 
sedges were arched over the cavity in such a way as to conceal it effectively. 
Two days later when we visited this nest we found it also raided. The only 
other nest of this species noted was a new one found on June 23. No attempt 
had been made at special construction of a nest, the two eggs simply lying in a 
crushed-down place among tall sedges. 
Fulvous Tree-ducks were much more numerous at the end of our stay 
than at the beginning. The last few days several small flocks were seen and 
these may very probably have been new arrivals. In a large flooded field sev- 
eral Tree-ducks were flushed but no nests were found. It seems certain that 
the nesting season for this species had but just begun. Compared with the 
numbers of Fulvous Tree-ducks seen by the writer in the same locality on July 
16, 1912, the numbers summering here now would seem to be less, oven con- 
sidering the fact that many seen in 1912 were young. 
The gizzard of an adult Tree-duck taken contained finely triturated grass 
and other vegetable matter. 
Other ducks. — A pair of ducks swimming about at the edge of some tules 
in a large pond proved to be Green-winged Teal. The male was a cripple and 
unable to fly and probably the female was also. This male bird had been feed- 
ing on the seeds of sedge {Carex sp.). More than one hundred seeds were found 
in the gizzard. 
Redheads {Marila americana) are known to nest in some numbers in the 
vicinity of Los Banos, but we were not successful in locating a nest ourselves. 
On one large pond surrounded by tules we found on several different occasions 
seven Redheads, four males and three females. During a morning’s trip to 
some large tule-bordered ponds about twenty Redheads were seen. These birds 
seemed to be in pairs and there were usually more males than females seen, 
which led us to think that some of the females might be incubating. 
Shovellers (Spatula clypeata) were even less common birds than Redheads. 
Pairs were occasionally seen feeding in shallow, muddy ponds out in the brush, 
and on one occasion three full-plumaged males were seen disporting themselves 
