THE WOOD DUCK. 
273 
frequently been surprised to see them go in and out of a hole of any one of 
these, when their bodies while on "wing seemed to be nearly half as large 
again as the aperture within which they had deposited their eggs. Once 
only I found a nest (with ten eggs) in the fissure of a rock on the Kentucky 
river a few miles below Frankfort. Generally, however, the holes to which 
they betake themselves are either over deep swamps, above cane brakes, or 
on broken branches of high sycamores, seldom more than forty or fifty feet 
from the water. They are much attached to their breeding-places, and for 
three successive years I found a pair near Henderson, in Kentucky, with 
eggs in the beginning of April, in the abandoned nest of an Ivory-billed 
Woodpecker. The eggs, which are from six to fifteen, according to the age 
of the bird, are placed on dry plants, feathers, and a scanty portion of down, 
which I believe is mostly plucked from the breast of the female. They are 
perfectly smooth, nearly elliptical, of a light colour, between buff and pale 
green, two inches in length by one and a half in diameter ; the shell is about . 
equal in firmness to that of the Mallard’s egg, and quite smooth. 
No sooner has the female completed her set of eggs than she is abandoned 
by her mate, who now joins others, which form themselves into considerable 
flocks, and thus remain apart until the young are able to fly, when old and 
young of both sexes come together, and so remain until the commencement 
of the next breeding season. In all the nests which I have examined, I have 
been rather surprised to find a quantity of feathers belonging to birds of 
other species, even those of the domestic fowl, and particularly of the Wild 
Goose and Wild Turkey. On coming upon a nest with eggs when the bird 
was absent in search of food, I have always found the eggs covered over 
with feathers and down, although quite out of sight, in the depth of a 
Woodpecker’s or Squirrel’s hole. On the contrary, when the nest was 
placed in the broken branch of a tree, it could easily be observed from the 
ground, on account of the feathers, dead sticks, and withered grasses about it. 
If the nest is placed immediately over the water, the young, the moment 
they are hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into the air 
with their little wings and feet spread out, and drop into their favourite 
element ; but whenever their birth-place is at some distance from it, the 
mother carries them to it one by one in her bill, holding them so as not to 
injure their yet tender frame. On several occasions, however, when the 
hole was thirty, forty, or more yards from a bayou or other piece of water, 
I observed that the mother suffered the young to fall on the grasses and 
dried leaves beneath the tree, and afterwards led them directly to the nearest 
edge of the next pool or creek. At this early age, the young answer to 
their parents’ call with a mellow pee, pee, pee, often and rapidly repeated. 
The call of the mother at such times is low, soft, and prolonged, resembling 
Vol. YI. 38 
