17
Back Bay Basin,
Boston, Mass.
1909.
Feb. 27
(No 17)
this position anywhere from one or two to eight
or ten seconds at a time.
Whistler courtship
  Forward thrust of head and neck ending in
Bowsprit posture.
Forward thrust & Bowsprit posture.
  The drakes assumed this attitude by suddenly thrusting
their heads and necks forward and upward from the normal
position (this was evidently the usual way) or by raising them
more slowly from the crouching or the wounded duck posture.
I saw them take it a dosen times or more. On each
occasion the bird remained absolutely motionless several
seconds with its neck elongated to the utmost and held
perfectly straight and rigid at an angle with the water
of about 45 degrees, suggesting the bowsprit of a vessel of
somewhat ancient type. Although this pose is apparently
taken less frequently than some of the others it appears
to be not less deliberate & pronounced than the rest and probably
represents the same emotions of sexual excitement. During its
continuance the feathers of the head were sometimes fluffed out
but oftener pressed down so very