Cambridge, Mass.
1909.
March 16
(No. 8)
Goosander
from Hemlock Point we walked around the pond
to the western side. When we got there the birds
had ceased courting and were scattered about singly,
or in pairs, or in small groups. Many of them
were individually engaged in fishing. I watched some
of them dive dozens of times and in nearly
every instance saw beyond the possibility of
mistakes (I was using my glass and the
distance did not exceed two hundred yards) that
they half opened their wings just before they
made the downward plunge. That this was
the rule and not the exception on this occasion
I can most positively assert. Indeed the wings
were invariably separated from the sides and
sometimes rather widely so, whenever I saw
them plainly just as the bird disappeared.