4 
Anas obscura. 
I 
Lake IMbagog, Maine. 
1397. shaded by large trees chiefly yellow birches (as yet leafless) 
jMay 24. and a few scattered spruces and balsams. Nest placed near 
< 
the foot of a balsam (4 in. diameter at base) made chiefly of 
dry leaves mixed with down, the rim raised and prominent. In 
situ it measured 10 by 11 inches across the top by 5 1^2 in. 
i 
deep. So wholly unconcealed ’was this nest that the light 
buffy eggs contrasting strongly with the wood browns of the 
general surface could be quickly seen from 15 yds. away in 
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every direction, and a Crow looking down from above must have 
been indeed dull-sighted had he failed to discover them. They 
were not covered in the least. 
- 
When Watrous found the nest this forenoon and again when 
I visited it with him in the afternoon the bird flushed at a- 
bout 15 yds. going straight up through the trees. On the 
25th Watrous tried to see her on the nest by rowing quietly 
past the spot in his boat but she rose before he got within 
thirty yards of her. 
In respect to size and general construction all three of 
these nests were remarkably uniform and the distance at 'Which 
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they were placed from the water was practically the same in 
each case, but one was in a very exposed situation, another 
well concealed, and the third so perfectly hidden that with¬ 
out removing or bending back some of the spruces or their 
