Mallard Nesting in Tree
Mallard Nesting in Tree
On June 2, at Pauline Marsh, Lake County, Oregon, I found a Mallard nest in what I thought an unusual site. It was placed in a deserted crow’s nest, some eight feet up in a clump of willow trees, surrounded by the marsh. The nest was lined with down, and contained six well incubated eggs. Before the female returned to the nest, the crows, that with a colony of Black-crowned Night Herons were also nesting in the willows, descended upon the nest and ate one of the eggs. In one patch of tules at this place we found a large number of ducks’ eggs, probably 150, that had been destroyed by these crows. In some cases entire nests had been rifled. The Night Herons likewise suffered much from these depredations, but we did not make an estimate of the damage.
ALEXANDER WALKER
Mulino, Orgon.
