67

1916.

118. Solitary Sandpiper. I met with no bird of this species during
the present spring but Mr. Dexter saw one in Fairyland on May 16 [May 16, 1916].

119. Spotted Sandpiper. Noted by me only on May 14 [May 14, 1916] when two
birds were seen flying together over the Assabet River near Birds' Nest
Island.

120. Carolina Rail. At least half a dozen birds were heard singing
or calling on May 30 [May 30, 1916], by Walter Faxon and Smith O. Dexter, in a
brook meadow lying just to the eastward of Lexington Park.
They could find no congenial cover in most of the Concord River
meadows because these remained flooded through the entire season
but Mr. Dexter heard a bird singing near Egg Rock at the 
mouth of the Assabet, on July 3 [July 3, 1916].

121. Canada Goose. Men in my employ reported seeing two flocks
of Geese flying northward over Carlisle on April 1 [April 1, 1916] and hearing the
honking of unseen birds there on April 11 [April 11, 1916].

122. Mallard. On reaching Concord early in April I learned that
a [female] Mallard had spent the winter in the river just below
Flint's Bridge where the swift, eddying current prevented ice from
forming over a space never less than several yards square. Here
the bird remained continuously from sometime in December
to well into March. Stedman Buttrick tells me that he fed
it regularly with bread & and dissuaded thoughtless boys from stoning it.

123. Black Duck. Noted at October Farm only on May 1 [May 1, 1916] when
two birds appeared on wing very high in air (1000 ft., I thought)
flying eastward. At Dudley Pitman's place in Billerica I saw, on