50 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



partridges being run down/ he says that he was told 

 by Lexington people some years ago that they found a 

 duck lying dead under the spire of their old meeting- 

 house (since burned) which stood on the Battle-Ground. 

 The weathercock — and it was a cock in this case — 

 was considerably bent, and the inference was that the 

 duck had flown against it in the night. 



March 24, 1860. From Holbrook's clearing I see 

 five large dark-colored ducks, probably black ducks, 

 far away on the meadow, with heads erect, necks 

 stretched, on the alert, only one in water. Indeed, there 

 is very little water on the meadows. For length of neck 

 those most wary look much like geese. They appear 

 quite large and heavy. They probably find some sweet 

 grass, etc., where the water has just receded. 



There are half a dozen gulls on the water near. They 

 are the large white birds of the meadow, the whitest 

 we have. As they so commonly stand above water on 

 a piece of meadow, they are so much the more conspic- 

 uous. They are very conspicuous to my naked eye a 

 mile off, or as soon as I come in sight of the meadow, 

 but I do not detect the sheldrakes around them till I 

 use my glass, for the latter are not only less conspicu- 

 ously white, but, as they are fishing, sink very low in 

 the water. Three of the gulls stand together on a piece 

 of meadow, and two or three more are standing solitary 

 half immersed, and now and then one or two circle 

 slowly about their companions. 



The sheldrakes appear to be the most native to the 

 river, briskly moving along up and down the side of 

 1 [See pp. 107, 108.] 



