The Wood Duck breeds in the Middle States about the beginning of
April, in Massachusetts a month later, and in Nova Scotia or on 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 generally pair about the 1st 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 appear at all times to prefer
the hollow broken portion of some large branch, the hole of our
largest Woodpecker (Picas 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.
Generally, however, the holes to which they betake themselves are either
over deep swamps, above cane brakes, or 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 the syllables pe-ee, pe-ee. The
watch-note of the male, which resembles lioe-eek, is never uttered by the
female; indeed, the male himself seldom uses it unless alarmed by some
uncommon sound or the sight of a distant enemy, or when intent on calling
passing birds of his own species.
The young are carefully led along the shallow and grassy shores, and
taught to obtain their food, which at this early period consists of small
aquatic insects, flies, musquitoes, and seeds. As they grow up, you now
and then see the whole flock run as it were along the surface of the sluggish
stream in chase of a dragon-fly, or to pick up a grasshopper or locust
that has accidentally dropped upon it. They are excellent divers, and
when frightened instantly disappear, disperse below the surface, and make
for the nearest shore, on attaining which they run for the woods, squat in
any convenient place, and thus elude pursuit. I used two modes of procuring
them alive on such occasions. One was with a bag net, such as is
employed in catching our little partridge, and which I placed half sunk in
the water, driving the birds slowly, first within the wings, and finally
into the bag. In this manner I have caught young and old birds of this
species in considerable numbers. The other method I accidentally discovered
while on a shooting excursion, accompanied by an excellent
pointer dog. I observed that the sight of this faithful animal always
immediately frightened the young ducks to the shores, the old one taking
to her wings as soon as she conceived her brood to be safe. But the next
instant Juno would dash across the bayou or pond, reach the opposite
bank, and immediately follow on their track. In a few moments she