Vol. XXVII 

 1910 



J Wright, Rare Wild Ducks Wintering at Boston, Mass. 407 



On the first day of March the ice had nearly gone from Leverett 

 Pond and these ducks were swimming in the newly opened southern 

 portion. As soon as they had open water over its entire extent 

 they began to show more shyness and sought the middle of the 

 pond when an observer approached the shore. On the night of 

 March 20 Jamaica Pond became free from ice. Here already 

 some Black Ducks had been coming for a few days while much ice 

 remained. Thirty-six were counted on the waters on March 22. 

 Three days later there were rather more than a hundred, and 

 about the same number was still present three weeks later, on 

 April 13. In the flock there appeared to be about as many rubripes 

 as r. tristis. They were more scattered over the pond than is the 

 case in the autumn. With them were two pairs of Mallards, the 

 companionship suggesting that these were wild birds and not 

 members of the park flock. On March 20 Mr. Barron Brainerd 

 had seen two pairs of Mallards asleep on the ice with the Blacks. 

 The number of the Black Ducks diminished day by day after 

 April 13, until on the 19th none were present. Their departure 

 may have been hastened, perhaps, by the use of boats on the 

 pond, which began a few days previous and was obvioush' a dis- 

 turbing factor. 



On March 22 the little company which forms the basis of this 

 paper was still intact on Leverett Pond except the Lesser Scaup 

 drake, which, as before said, had already disappeared. On March 

 25 the Redhead duck, the Canvas-back drake, and the Ring- 

 necked drake had passed to Jamaica Pond. There they were 

 seen by me and by Mr. Brainerd. On the following day Mr. 

 W. C. Levey and Mr. J. H. Kelley saw them still there. On the 

 27th Mr. Brainerd saw them all in the forenoon on Jamaica Pond 

 and in the late afternoon, a little after 5 o'clock, he says, saw them 

 all on Leverett Pond. This was the last record obtained of 

 them. They must have left that night or on the next day, for 

 on the 29th, when they were again looked for, they could not be 

 found and were not again seen. The presumption is that they 

 left together, just as they had always been in association together 

 and in their several changes of location from the one pond to the 

 other and in their successive brief absences during the winter 

 either all three or none of them were seen. On the March 25 oh- 



