Nest hole of Lophodytes cucullatus
MAINE, (L. Umbagog. [Umbagog Lake, Maine]) Bucephala Nest of Quiscalus
1876. Haliaeetus, Certhia Am. [Certhia americana] Myiarchus etc.
(June 3 [June 3,1876]) immediately I sent a charge of No. 3 after
her and marking her lowering flight
a short distance we paddled to the
spot & picked up a [female] Lopoh. cucullatus [Lophodytes cucullatus].
Returning to the stub my man commenced
to swarm up where to my excessive
amazement another scratching was heard
and another duck shot out of the same
hole. This time I fired a little wildly
& probably missed as the bird went off
though it acted as if wounded. Continuing
his ascent with "great expectations" of
ducks eggs my man reached the hole
and looked in to find only emptiness
or more literally speaking a large cavity
with the bottom covered with damp
rotten wood. Post mortem examination
of the bird shot revealed the fact that the
eggs would not have been laid in less
than a week or 10 days. The hole had
undoubtedly been selected as a nesting
place. It was a natural cavity rather
in the side of the tree at the height of
about 15 feet above the water running
down three feet with a diameter at its
mouth of about 10 inches. Whether the
second bird was the [male] or not I could
not make up my mind; it looked very
like the first as it came out. Continuing
our search in & around the mouth of the
Megalloway river [Magalloway River] we found several likely
looking holes but no nests. While paddling
through the stubs a duck came flying
past very high up and giving her
plenty of "allowance" I fired and