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Sept., 1914 SURVEY OB BREEDING GROUNDS O1? DUCKS 221 neath the mother. Some were standing nearly erect whereas others were crouching, but all Were huddled close together. They remained perfectly mo- tionless while, leaving Kendall to watch, I went for the camera. I had gone over a hundred yards before they moved. By the time I returned they had Fig. 64. NEST OF BLACK-NECKED STILT (Himantopus mexicanus): ?A CRUDE AFFA/R BUILT FLAT ON THE GROUND; LOS BANDS, MAY, 1914. wandered off about ten yards. They marched in single file and every now and then huddled close together posing motion- less for a few moments. The mother came within twelve feet of us a num- ber of times. She repeat- ed from time to time a so- norous quack; but when we moved to a little dis- tance she approached the ducklings and began call- ing them with a rapid se- ries of short quacks, to which the young respond- ed by quickly following their mother as she wad- died off to the nearest water. Another brood of almost the same age was discovered on the afternoon of the same day, the 21st (see fig. 63). The wind was blowing hard and the mother with her eight downy young had sought the shelter of a bush on the bank of a large pond. She was very solicitous for her young, and in her attempt to lead us away she fluttered along the ground, flew about our heads, or swam in anxi- ous manner in the nearby pond. The Pintail evidently nests commonly in the vicin- ity of Los Barios. The almost equal number of sets of fresh eggs and broods of downy young found lead us to conclude that our visit there occurred during the height of the breeding sea- son. The downy young have so little yellow about the head, and the Fig. 65. NEST OF BLACK-NECKED STILT: A WELL CON STRUCTED EXAMPLE? BUILT UP WELL ABOVE SURFACE OF WATER TO ESCAPE FLOODING; LOS BANDS, MAY, 1914. two dark lines on the side of the head are so conspicuous, that there is little trouble in distinguishing them from the downy young of the Mallard or Cinnamon Teal. Like the young of the Mallard the young Pintail is an expert diver. Two kept for a time in captivity were very fond of house flies and were