16
Back Bay Basin
Boston, Mass.
1909
Feb. 27
(No 16)
  The crouching posture. This was usually assumed directly
from the normal swimming attitude and by an almost
instantaneous movement the head being thrust forward well
above the surface, the neck deeply curved, the back
somewhat humped. After remaining in this position
absolutely motionless for two or three second the bird
would either resume the normal attitude or change to
The wounded duck posture. When behaving thus the 
bird would lay its head and extended neck flat on
the surface and immerse its body so deeply that from
bill to tail it showed no part much higher than the rest,
looking, indeed, like a perfectly straight stick or reed
stem, partly submerged. I have frequently seen
a wounded Black Duck, Wood Duck, or Blue-winged
Teal do nearly if not exactly the same thing when
trying to escape observation. The Golden-eyes maintained