24 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIKDS 



April 16, 1855. At Flint's, 1 sitting on the rock, we 

 see a great many ducks, mostly sheldrakes, on the pond, 

 which will hardly abide us within half a mile. With the 

 glass I see hy their reddish heads that all of one party 

 — the main body — are females. You see little more 

 than their heads at a distance and not much white but 

 on their throats, perchance. When they fly, they look 

 black and white, but not so large nor with that brilliant 

 contrast of black and white which the male exhibits. In 

 another direction is a male by himself, conspicuous, per- 

 haps several. Anon alights near us a flock of golden- 

 eyes — surely, with their great black (looking) heads 

 and a white patch on the side ; short stumpy bills (after 

 looking at the mergansers) ; much clear black, contrast- 

 ing with much clear white. Their heads and bills look 

 ludicrously short and parrot-like after the others. Our 

 presence and a boat party on the pond at last drove 

 nearly all the ducks into the deep easterly cove. 



We stole down on them carefully through the woods, 

 at last crawling on our bellies, with great patience, till 

 at last we found ourselves within seven or eight rods — 

 as I measured afterward — of the great body of them, 

 and watched them for twenty or thirty minutes with the 

 glass through a screen of cat-briar, alders, etc. There 

 were twelve female sheldrakes close together, and, near- 

 est us, within two rods of the shore, where it was very 

 shallow, two or more constantly moving about within 

 about the diameter of a rod and keeping watch while 

 the rest were trying to sleep, — to catch a nap with 

 their heads in their backs ; but from time to time one 



1 [Flint's, or Sandy, Pond, in Lincoln, Mass.] 



