Mayhew 1949 June 11 Mallard Conway Ranch, 2 miles east of Woodland, Yolo Co., Calif. was about ready to hatch, but for some reason didn't (there was a hole in the side of the shell), + 1 young dead duck with the side of its head caved in. By crouching beside the canal in the weeds, I saw the f flushed with young leave her 2 youngsters in the canal & fly back into the edge of the barley field, apparently looking for the rest of her brood. I waited for another 10 minutes, but the f didn't return to the 2 young in the ditch. When I left, the 2 were swimming north along the canal, still peeping loudly. ③ I found an abandoned nest with 7 mallard eggs, + 1 pheasant egg. 2 of the duck eggs had been broken, the rest were in an early stage of development when abandoned, a laboratory examination disclosed. The pheasent egg was much more developed than the accompanying duck eggs. another f was flushed, but I could find no trace of a nest, although she circled me as if she had one in that vicinity. ⑤ a f with 7 half-grown youngsters were startled away from a bank of a canal out into midstream, where the young really moved through the water. They were swimming, with the aid of their wings, faster than I could walk along