Lake Umbagog.
Androscoggin River
1896
June 5
(No 4)              
  On our way back to the Lake we saw two more pairs (in each
case both birds looked like females but they were flying & a good bit
off) of Hooded Mergansers and a pair of Rusty Grackles, the latter
among some tall young balsams growing on the north bank of the
Androscoggin a little below the mouth of Megalloway.
[margin]Hooded
Mergansers.
Rusty
Grackles[/margin]
  Nearly opposite this spot on the south bank stands a large white
pine which has died within a year or two. As we were
passing this tree on our way down river we saw a Chimney
Swift enter a small, round hole (no larger than a Hairy Wood-
pecker's hole) in the side of the trunk about 20 ft. above the
ground. The bird did not fly - or rather - or drop into the hole
but alighting on its lower edge crawled in precisely as a Tree
Swallow would have done. On our return we tapped the tree
with an oar & the Swift came out like a shot darting off
over the river & out of sight. I was most anxious to have the
tree cut open but the trunk was so large & the bark so thick
& hard that Watrons pronounced it useless to try to climb
it, even with the aid of his climbing irons.        
  As we neared the Lake I saw a Golden-eye fly from the hole
near the top of the very tall ash stub on which I shot my
first Hawk Owl. Almost immediately afterwards two more Ducks
of the same kind flew from stubs over the area just mentioned
but we did not accurately mark the starting point of either.
The hole in the tall stub was almost perfectly sound & so
small that it seemed impossible for a Duck to pass through it.
It was fully 60 ft. above the water & the tree was so very rotten
that it would have been folly to risk climbing it. All these
Golden eyes left their nests when we were 100 yds. & more away
& making but little noise. The first bird doubtless warned the others
with her croaking but how did she hear our approach? And
[margin]Whistler[/margin]