The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-27

Are Watched jealousy.
The wild duck is apt to be rather
quaint as mother. She often seems
10 have the most singular idea about
sites appropriate for the nursery.
l. is practically an essential for the
welIbeing Of her babies that the nur-
sery should be close by the wa-er's
side for the little ones like to take TO
the water as soon as Matched. They
have small use for the land except to
rest on, and they are rather restless
The water is their element, and yet
the old mother duck will sometimes
choose for ner nesting place 4 spot re-
mote 'Oy more than a hundred yards
from any water, sometimes she Will
even choose the humble, but yet con-
siderable, height Of a pollard willow.
and how she conveys her young brood
from these situations to the water is
one Of those problems Of natural his
.Ory which. like the cuckCo's way of
conveying her egg into a wren's nest,
will probably go On yexing till the end
of time.
There are theories in plenty, but no
certainty. And often she will make
her nest or lay her eggs for her no
lions OF nest architecture are primi-
tive) in a spot that seems specially Sc
lected for its absence of covert And
yet no one can say that she is not an
amectiOnate, even an Overanxious, mo-
Their When you come near her nest
and Startle her off it, she does not go
away, as a wise woman would, steal
thily, secretly, SO as not to reveal to
you its existence, but with a fiutter
and a cOmmOtiOn and often with an
affection OF broken wing las if to
lead you off in pursuit of her, rather
than leave you looking for her eggs,
that tells you as plainly as if she had
quacked it out, Il have a nest there;
please do not go looking for it; but
come and catch me; | have a broken
wing. She has a charming idea of
human simplicity.
She has only too many reasons for
her overanxiety. 1t is quite pitiful.
She is a pitiful object herself, as she
goes about in her lame and incompe-
tent fashion. But the real dangers that
menace her young family are many
and terrible.
On shore, as soon as Matched, or
even while still in the she'll, they are
the most attractive prey of rats, both
gray rats and water VOleS, and no
sooner do they take to the water than
a hungry pike is looking out to gobble
them up or a heron, ostensibly bent ON
fishing, is not at all above skeWering
one of them ON his bayonet beak, if it
should come his way. So all these ade-
quate causes FOR most poignant ankle
ty more than excuse Mother Duck for
her business even if they be no eX-
cuse for her habit of pitching her MUIR
sery tent in sites that really are not
very eligible.
But this mother has chosen a fairly
secluded spot. For the most part she
will be found sitting closely, If she
be approached with caution, or else
will move just a foot or so from her
nest, and remain watching jealously,
lest her eggs take any harm. And
close beside her in the same covert is
Mother Pheasant on her nest, less sus-
piciOus and more trustful, for she,
something of a dcmesticated person,
having been brought up unuer a barn
door hen, and so learning the ways of
civilization II the wild duck mother
could learn only portion of her trust
fulness she would be a more cOnten-ad
woman.