[Illustration 090: Hooded Merganser. Mallard.] [Illustration: Grayish white.] [Illustration: left hand margin.] Page 89 [Illustration 091: Lake Winnipegosis, June 16, 1902 Walter Raine NEST AND EGGS OF AMERICAN MERGANSER. This species usually nest in holes in trees, but on this island they were nesting in holes under boulders.] Page 90 133. BLACK DUCK. _Anas rubripes._ Range.--Eastern North America, breeding from the middle portions north to the Hudson Bay territory and Labrador. Throughout their breeding region, one or more pairs of these ducks nest in nearly every favorable locality. Their nests are placed on the ground in marshes, swamps or fields bordering a pond or lake, the nest being concealed in the long grass or reeds. They breed in equal abundance, either in the interior or along the sea coast; in the latter case their nests are often placed beside of, or under an overhanging rock. It is made of weeds, grass and moss and is lined with feathers and down. They lay from six to twelve eggs during May and June; these are buff or greenish buff in color. Size 2.30 × 1.70. Data.--Duck Is., Maine, June 3, 1893. Nest of grasses, concealed in a large tuft on water's edge. 134. FLORIDA DUCK. _Anas fulvigula fulvigula._ Range.--Florida and the Gulf of the Mississippi. This is a similar, lighter colored, locally distributed race of the foregoing. The most noticeable difference in plumage between this and the Black Duck is the absence of markings on the chin. The habits are the same, and the eggs, which are deposited in April, are similar to those of the Black Duck, but smaller. Size 2.15 × 1.60. [Illustration 092: Pale greenish buff.] [Illustration: Black Duck. Florida Duck.] [Illustration: deco-photo.] [Illustration: left hand margin.] Page 91 134a. MOTTLED DUCK. _Anas fulvigula maculosa._ Range.--Gulf coast of Texas and up the Mississippi Valley to Kansas. The habits of this bird differ in no way from the preceding ones. The six to ten eggs are greenish buff in color. Size 2.15 × 1.55. 135. GADWALL. _Chaulelasmus streperus._ Range.--Northern Hemisphere, breeding in America, chiefly in the United States and north to Manitoba, chiefly in the interior. South in winter to the Gulf. The males of these birds may be identified by the white speculum and the chestnut wing coverts. Gadwalls nest on the ground among the reeds of marshes or in the long grass of bordering fields; they make little or no nest but line the cavity with down from their breasts. They lay from seven to twelve eggs of a creamy buff color. Size 2.10 × 1.60. Data.--Benson Co., North Dakota, June 19, 1898. Eight eggs. Nest on the ground among rank grass on a low island in Devils Lake. Made of weeds lined with down. Collector, E. S. Rolfe. 136. WIDGEON. _Mareca penelope_. Range.--Northern Hemisphere, breeding in America, only in the Aleutian Islands; rare or accidental in other parts of the country.