126 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
grounds at the approach of night, it shoots over the trees like a 
meteor, scarcely emitting any sound from its wings. 
“ The Wood Duck breeds in the Middle States about the 
beginning of April, in Massachusetts a month later, and in Nova 
Scotia, or our Northern Lakes, seldom before the first days of 
June. In Louisiana and Kentucky, where I have had better 
opportunities of studying their habits in this respect, they gene¬ 
rally pair about the first of March, sometimes a fortnight 
earlier. I never knew one of these birds to form a nest on the 
ground, or on the branches of a tree ; they always seem to pre¬ 
fer the hollow, broken portion of some large marsh, the hole of 
our large Woodpecker, Ficus Principalis , or the deserted retreat 
of the fox squirrel; and I have 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. 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 color 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 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. 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 favorite element; but 
whenever their birth-place is at some distance from it, the 
