They build very good nests, usually on the ground, and warmly lined with their own down, which the parent plucks from her breast to cover the eggs.

The color of the eggs is always greenish, gray, drab, or buff, never with any spots.

Most River Ducks nest in the far North, but there are some exceptions.

The Wood Duck that Rap saw by the lake is one of these exceptions, and has the most beautiful plumage of all our Ducks.

It does not build its nest on the ground, like most others of its family, but in a tree hole, like an Owl or a Woodpecker." "How can the little Ducks get down to the ground--do their wings grow strong very soon ?" asked Nat.
"You have seen that most birds come from the egg quite naked, and stay in the nest till their feathers grow, like Canaries and all other song birds, while others are hatched all covered with down, the same as Chickens are.