one of my assistants found a floating nest containing six large white eggs and one small one; the nest and its six large coarse-grained eggs I at once identified as those of the Ruddy Duck, while the seventh resembled the three strange eggs of the Redhead's nest. To make a long story short we found six or eight nests of the Redhead and Ruddy Ducks and over half of them contained one or more of the strange eggs, but search the tules as we might not a single nest of the Fulvous Tree Duck could we find. This was unaccountable for the birds were certainly laying and the parasite eggs were theirs, and I found myself wondering if it were not probable that the birds being accustomed to nest in hollow trees, and not having such facilities at hand, had abandoned the idea of having nests of their own and adopted the method of the Cowbird in rearing its young.
As the afternoon was advanced we gave up for the day and remained over night at a farm-house a few miles from the swamp. Starting early next morning to search a different locality, the place selected was an extensive strip of high grass growing in the damp swampy ground and sometimes in several inches of water. The grass was from two to three feet high, of a variety commonly known as "sword" or "wire" grass and covered an area of perhaps one hundred acres of low land between the deep water and the higher ground a few hundred yards back. Just as we were alighting from the wagon on the edge of the swampy area I saw a Fulvous Tree Duck flying from the swamp. After a few circles she dropped down among the dense grass not 300 yards distant, and I, not stopping to put on my wading boots but keeping my eye on the spot where she had settled quickly approached and when within a few yards I was delightfully shocked by a flutter of wings and the sight of the old bird rising and winging a hasty retreat. I reached the nest and what a thrill at the sight,—there in the midst of a little vacant square of four or five feet was a beautifully built nest, composed entirely of grass, about six inches in height and containing beautiful white eggs! I immediately saw by comparison that my surmise as to the identity of the strange parasite eggs found the day before was correct.
The nest was situated in the center of a little open spot in the grass; the open area had evidently been created by the bird in her quest for building material, for she had proceeded to pull up or break off the grass immediately adjacent as her nest grew higher and larger, until the nest finally occupied a position in broad daylight as it were, although it is not improbable that when the spot was selected it was well hidden by overhanging and surrounding grass. I was not long in securing this nest and eggs, after which we began a systematic search through the high grass and in a short time I had found my second nest constructed similarly to the first but a little better hidden, being under an overhanging bunch of grass which furnished a slight covering. This nest contained thirty eggs, deposited in a double layer, and if the first set of nineteen was a surprise what shall I say of this?
We subsequently found about a dozen nests, all similarly situated and most of them containing from 17 to 28, 30, 31 and 32 eggs. The smallest set found was of nine and another of eleven eggs, both evidently being incomplete as the nests were not finished and incubation had not commenced. There are but two ways in which to account for the remarkable number of eggs in the sets; either the Fulvous Tree Duck possesses greater fecundity and is much more prolific than any other known wild duck, or several females frequently occupy the same nest. As to which of the above theories is correct, and whether their habits in this respect differ in this country from those in more southern climes, I am of course unable to state. While I am inclined to the belief that one duck generally contributed the entire quota of the large sets, yet the contrary would not surprise me, as the very fact of their depositing eggs at random in nests of other species demonstrates their "easy conscience" in such practices.
The nests were in main constructed of wire grass and sparsely lined with down and feathers; the eggs were invariably
