Nesting of Spatula clypeata
Nesting of Spatyla clypeata.
WHILE collecting some specimens of the Salt Marsh Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia pusilldaa) on the salt marsh April 25, 1901, I noticed on starting out from the edge of the marsh a pair of ducks which were flying toward the waters of the bay.
After working over the marsh for several hours I started back and when half way across I again saw a pair of ducks headed inland, but thought nothing of it until a single duck started up ten feet from me and 300 yards from the mainland.
On going to the spot there lay a nest in open sight on the bare ground among the salt-weed. It was not over four inches off the ground and contained fourteen eggs. The nest was composed of dry stems of the salt-weed, lined with down and a few feathers from the parent bird, and measured fourteen inches across the top with a depth of five inches.
The eggs were of a dull grayish-green or olive color, about two-thirds incubated and lay well embedded in the down of the nest. If the female had not flushed I should not have found the nest.
On March 28, 1886 I took a set of this same species, placed on the sand under a low bush, 150 yards back from the bay shore. The nest was constructed in a very similar manner to the one above described. In this case I got my head within three feet of the close-setting female before she flew, the male joining her before reaching the bay. The Shoveller is becoming more common on the salt marshes from year.to,year.
W. OTTO EMERSON.Hayz0ards, Cal.
