Ill 



DUCKS AND GEESE 



AMERICAN MERGANSER; SHELDRAKE; GOOSANDER 



March 29, 1853. Four ducks, two by two, are sail- 

 ing conspicuously on the river. There appear to be two 

 pairs. In each case one two-thirds white and another 

 grayish-brown and, I think, smaller. They are very shy 

 and fly at fifty rods' distance. Are they whistlers ? ^ . . . 

 Would it not be well to carry a spy-glass in order to 

 watch these shy birds such as ducks and hawks .'' In 

 some respects, methinks, it would be better than a gun. 

 The latter brings them nearer dead, but the former 

 alive. You can identify the species better by killing 

 the bird, because it was a dead specimen that was so 

 minutely described, but you can study the habits and 

 appearance best in the living specimen. These ducks 

 first flew north, or somewhat against the wind (was it 

 to get under weigh?), then wheeled, flew nearer me, 

 and went south up-stream, where I saw them after- 

 ward. 



April 23, 1854. I had first seen two white ducks far 

 off just above the outlet of the pond, mistaking them 



^ These were either mergansers or the golden-eye ; I think the for- 

 mer, t. e. Mergus serrator, or red-breasted merganser (?), or sheldrake. 

 [Thoreau's " sheldrakes " were doubtless with few exceptions Ameri- 

 can mergansers (Mergus americanus) , which species is much commoner 

 in fresh water than the red-breasted. His descriptions indicate this 

 Fpecies.] 



