Concord, Massachusetts.
1894
Oct.11 to
Nov 21
(No 22)
Resume of Field Observations.
  On the evening of Nov. 1st I started a pair of Wood Ducks
from the river at Dakins bend as I was on my way home.
The drake appeared to be in full plumage. These birds probably
moved southward that night as they were not again seen.
  On Nov. 16 a solitary drake appeared in the river at the
Holt. He allowed me to sail past him within twenty yards
before he started and he flew less than one hundred yards before
realighting. I had no gun with me at the time but took
one the next day when, however, I could not find him,
but on the morning of the 18th I started what was doubtless
the same bird from the wooded reach just above Hunt's Pond. He
flew up stream to the Head of Barrett's Bar and dropped
close in shore under some willows. Landing I went back
and came suddenly upon him as he was sitting on the
mud. He flew a few rods, alighted on the water and was
swimming down stream when I fired and killed him. He
was in full plumage but was the smallest drake that
I remember to have ever seen.
  [delete]On[/delete] The list of Ducks seen by me this autumn is not complete
without some mention of a bird which I found in Hunt's Pond
on the evening of November 1. It was scarcely dark at the time
and I at first mistook his "wake" for that of a Musk rat but
the lightness of the ripples aroused my suspicions and turning
the canoe I paddled directly towards him. He was close
in shore in a black shadow cast by a thicket of bushes and
until I got within twenty yards or less I could see nothing
but the silvery ripples which he made. Then I began to make
him out - a rather small Duck of generally dark coloring
with a large head. I set him down for either a Scaup or a