THE SUMMER DUCK. 
135 
and slightly yellowish, greatly resembling old, polished 
ivory. The egg measured two inches and an eighth by one 
inch and a half. On breaking one of them, the young bird 
was found to be nearly hatched, but dead, as neither of the 
parents had been observed about the tree during the three 
or four days preceding, and were conjectured to have been 
shot. 
This tree had been occupied, probably by the same pair, 
for four successive years, in breeding time ; the person who 
gave me the information, and whose house was within 
twenty or thirty yards of the tree, said that he had seen 
the female, the spring preceding, carry down thirteen young, 
one by one, in less than ten minutes. She caught them in 
her bill by the wing or back of the neck, and landed them 
safely at the foot of the tree, whence she afterwards led 
them to the water. 
Under this same tree, at the time I visited it, a large 
sloop lay on the stocks, nearly finished ; the deck was not 
more than twelve feet distant from the nest, yet notwith- 
standing the presence and noise of the workmen, the Ducks 
would not abandon their old breeding place, but continued 
to pass out and in, as if no person had been near. The 
male usually perched on an adjoining limb, and kept watch 
while the female was laying, and also often while she was 
sitting. A tame goose had chosen a hollow space at the 
root of the same tree, to lay and hatch her young in. 
