267
Lake Umbagog.
Androscoggin River.
1897.
Sept. 22
(No 3)
the same place and rarely remained under for more than
a few seconds. But he always wheeled and made for the
shore at once although twice the reappearance of the
Duck before he reached it tempted him to turn
back and swoop again. Strange to say he usually chose
a perch only six or eight feet above the surface of 
the river. Hence his swoops were performed on a
nearly level plane this distance which he had to
fly being fully sixty yards. For about two-thirds
of this distance he fluttered his wings rapidly and
steadily but the last third was covered on set 
wings. It was beautiful to see him glide swiftly
and smoothly [delete]directly[/delete] towards his prey rising slightly
and [delete][?][/delete] dropping his legs just before reaching
the spot where she sat apparently paralysed with
fear. I noticed, however, that she held her wings
half opened with the tips immersed & this, no doubt,
will account for the truly marvellous quickness
with which she invariably dove. There was no
forward spring, no humping of the back or last
glympse [sic] of the tail but simply a splash and
rings rolling out over the calm water where the
bird had floated an instant before. Once or twice
she squealed just before diving. Once she
paddled about over a yard or two of surface.
But ordinarily she sat motionless with head and 
neck erect.
[margin]Gos hawk
stoops at
Wood Duck[/margin]
  At first we were two hundred yards away but
we kept rowing slowly nearer until we got within
100 yds. The Wood Duck showed no alarm at
our approach. & doubtless would have permitted