104
Lake Umbagog.
Megalloway River
1897. 
June 2 
(No 3)                                
  The water in Bottle Brook Pond is now about six
feet above its normal autumn level and the shores in
many places are submerged. We paddled about at will
among the fine old White Maples at the water and 
of the pond most the bank of the river. It would be
difficult to find a more favorable place for usual 
nesting ducks than this ancient forest for many of
the trees are dead or dying and they furnish holes
and curious of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some
of the largest trees are three or four feet in diameter
at the base and eighty or ninety feet tall.
[margin]Bottle Brook
Pond[/margin]
  Watrous soon found two Whistlers' nests, both in natural
cavities in maples about eight feet above the water. One
was evidently a last year's nest the down being matted
& disarranged. There were no eggs or egg shells. The other
nest contained seven eggs. They were badly stained and
coated one with small fragments of shreds of rotten wood
which had dried fairly on the shells. There was no
down under or around them and the spiders had
spun a close netting of web just above them. No bird
was seen near the tree. These facts satisfied us that
the nest was desisted and although I did not care
for so poor and disfigured a set we thought it a 
pity to leave them. We were greatly surprised, on
blowing them most day, to find that six of those
eggs were perfectly fresh. The seventh was slightly
cracked & half - empty with seven of the contents as 
remained moist but of the consistency of damp mash.
This egg is unlike the others in shape. Can it have
been in the nest over the winter? If laid this spring
why was it deposited so long before the other six?
[margin]Nest of the Whistler[/margin]