Anas obscura. Lake Umbagog, Maine. 4 1897. shaded by large trees chiefly yellow birches (as yet leafless) May 24. and a few scattered spruces and balsams. Nest placed near the foot of a balsam (4 in. diameter at base) made chiefly of dry leaves mixed with down, the rim raised and prominent. In situ it measured 10 by 11 inches across the top by 3 1/2 in. deep. So wholly unconcealed was this nest that the light buffy eggs contrasting strongly with the wood browns of the general surface could be quickly seen from 15 yds. away in every direction, and a Crow looking down from above must have been indeed dull-sighted had he failed to discover them. They were not covered in the least. When Watrous found the nest this forenoon and again when I visited it with him in the afternoon the bird flushed at a- bout 15 yds. going straight up through the trees. On the 25th Watrous tried to see her on the nest by rowing quietly past the spot in his boat but she rose before he got within thirty yards of her. In respect to size and general construction all three of these nests were remarkably uniform and the distance at which they were placed from the water was practically the same in each case, but one was in a very exposed situation, another well concealed, and the third so perfectly hidden that with- out removing or bending back some of the spruces or their 27