tPrieeA UID UB ONG BU EET IN II 
the eye probably had been reached by our boat during the absence of the 
parent. Once a pair was seen building, far from the shore fringe, where 
the new leaves of the wild rice, floating on the water, made its surface 
appear a uniform green. ‘These birds dived for the dead vegetation and 
brought it in rather large pieces to a pile they had formed. On another 
nest, similarly located, the sitting bird could be seen without glasses at 
a distance of 500 yards. An apparently unmated male called continuously 
day and night for the space of two days. ‘The call resembled two cluck- 
ing notes followed by a wail which seemed like a human sound. As the 
call was uttered the bird thrust its head and neck forward and up. 
‘These amphibious investigations resulted in the uncovering of a great 
many nests of the Coot. One of these contained seventeen eggs which may 
have represented a joint effort on the part of two hens. 
A Coot whose nest was approached from the shore would leave it by 
swimming, while yet the intruder was some distance away, into open water, 
where it floated unconcernedly. As the threat became greater the bird 
would become agitated and utter a short grunting note, striking the water 
in a manner to produce a clapping sound. Whether the blow was made 
by using the wings or the feet could not be seen, but the scund seemed 
to be accompanied by a vibration of the body. If the wings were used 
they were not noticeably raised in the action. 
Among the incidents, trifling enough perhaps, which somehow gave 
rise to pensive and reverent moods, were the frequent encounters with a 
mother Mallard and her downy brood. ‘The old duck’s efforts to get her 
offspring into open water, to keep the frightened ducklings together and, 
at the same time, to create a diversion by an agonized simulation of injury 
were touching and amusing. 
On one occasion while crossing a rude culvert over a small stream 
a female Mallard was flushed almost under foot. She had brought her 
brood up the stream from the lake and had them in a pool where the em- 
bankment cut them off from concealment among reeds or marsh grasses. 
At first she began the tactics of her tradition but, almost immediately, 
seemed to sense the position of the young which could not move down 
stream to the lake, because of the human enemy on the culvert, nor yet 
could move upstream (in the direction in which she had been compelled 
to fly) without becoming more and more exposed to capture in the narrow- 
ing channel. Without further clamor, but doubtless with a watchful eye 
from some near concealment, she left them to their own maneuvers. And 
these proved sufficient. In a mass the ten or eleven youngsters—one could 
have covered them with an ordinary felt hat—dodged about a willow 
bush, projecting from the bank of the stream, so as to defeat any ordinary 
attempt to secure them. “The mass movement of these day-old ducklings 
without the least loss of cohesion was marvelous. ‘Three nests of the Mal- 
lard, two containing nine eggs and one a single egg, were found. Curiously 
