Cambridge, Mass.
1909.
March 16
(No 6)
When a number of drakes started after a female
that was swimming away from them they usually
overtook her quickly and passed her in the
manner which I have just described but sometimes
the chase would continue for one or two hundred
yards. When overtaken she usually stopped
and seemed to watch the behavior of her
admirers with some interest. During their
evolutions one or another of them would occasionally
thrust his head straight upward to the full length
of the neck but this position was never maintained
for more than a fraction of a second. The distance
was too great for me to make out if the bill
was opened or not. I saw no other unusual
movements of the head and neck, which, indeed,
were carried much as on ordinary occasions but perhaps
Courtship of Gooseanders