Concord, Massachusetts.
1894.   
Oct. 11 to
Nov. 21
(No. 21)          
Resume of Field Observations
floating leaves. At this moment they were not more than ten
or twelve feet from me and in the full sunlight, which brought
out the gorgeous coloring of the drake to great advantage. When he
turned his head I could see the exquisite sheen of his crest as
distinctly as if I had held him in my hand.
  Of course it was out of the question to shoot at such short range
so I waited motionless hoping that the birds would swim
further off but when at length they so they kept down along
under the bank and were again lost to sight. After a little while
I followed them and again the ripples betrayed their position
but this time they saw me when I raised my head and at
once flew. I brought down the duck easily enough but the
dense branches saved the life of the drake for the time
although I fired the second barrel at him. He went directly
down to the Holt where I found him, twenty minutes later,
under an overhanging maple floating in the middle of a raft
of newly fallen leaves. So still did he sit that I looked at him
for some time through the glass before I felt sure that he
was not a piece of driftwood. I then made a detour over
the meadow, came out on the bank directly above him, and
killed him as he flew off. I have been thus circumstantial 
in describing the shooting of these birds for the reason that
they have been given to Clark to be mounted for my
New England collection.
  I saw the next Wood Duck, a female, on Oct. 25th, swimming
close to the shore at Ball's Hill a little above the cabin.
This bird allowed me to paddle within gunshot but I
had no gun with me and should not have killed her had
I had one. She flew across the river and spent the
remainder of the day on the opposite shore.