THK COXDOR 
Vol. XIII 
2 (> 
seem loud when uttered within fifty yards of me, j-et I could hear it distinctly at 
four or five times that distance when the air was still. It was sometimes doubled 
{ paaap-ptuuip) and occasionally trebled ( paap-paa-paa) . I suspected at first that 
these doubled and trebled notes were produced by two or three birds calling nearly 
together but on studying the sounds closely I found that their component parts or 
syllables were each shorter than the normal single call and otherwise slightly dif- 
ferent. This led me to conclude that the compound notes were probably made 
by single birds. Negative evidence supporting this inference was furnished by the 
fact that whenever I was able to watch several drakes performing in company I 
noticed that they always called in orderly succession, at distinctly separate inter- 
vals, and that their notes were of normal length and form. The intervals, how- 
ever, were often verj^ brief and when nine or ten birds were engaged at once their 
voices produced a volume of sound well nigh continuous and lasting perhaps for 
half a minute or more. This, softened by distance and coming over the glassy, 
sun-lit water from just where, it would have been difficult to determine had not its 
author been plaiidy visible, was by no means unpleasing in its general effect. But 
when the paaap was heard near at hand and critically regarded, it did not impress 
me so favorably. Indeed it is essentially unmusical and decidedly less attractive 
in quality than the humming-top sound made by the wings in flight to which the 
Whistler owes its familiar name and which was much in evidence this morning 
whenever the birds were moving from place to place. They rose from the water 
with great apparent ease and almost as quickly as Black Duck, despite the absence 
of wind. W'hen they alighted they often struck the water almost at full speed, 
just after closing their wings, sending the .spray flashing up into the sunshine and 
ploughing furrows yards in length as they slid over the surface before losing the 
impetus of flight. Besides the bleat and the whistling of wings I heard them 
make no other sound. 
Just as the paaap was uttered — or perhaps a fraction of a second later — a slen- 
der shower or spurt of water, not unlike that emanating from an old-fashioned, 
metal garden syringe vigorously used, might often (but by no means in- 
variably) be seen rising immediately behind the bird to a height of one or two feet. 
Sometimes it was thrown almost straight upwards, but oftener, it followed a long, 
elliptical or l)ow-shaped, backward curve, the heavier drops falling to the surface 
within a yard of the bird, the lighter ones striking two or three yards at its rear. 
This jet-like puff of mingled drops and spray was sometimes cons]’)icuous at a dis- 
tance of fully a (juarter of a mile. It was produced, without question, b}" a vigor- 
ous and obviously most dextrous upward kick of the Whistler’s broad, webbed feet 
which, indeed, I saw plainly more than once, jerked out of water just as the last 
drops were ascending into the air. When, as occasionally happened, the jet was 
doubled in volume, and also apparently somewhat divided at the base, I thought 
that the bird had made simultaneous use of both feet, but of this I could not be 
sure for I never actually saw more than one of them. Owing to its force and 
direction the kick caused the hinder portions of the bird’s body to sink perceptibly 
in the water for an in.stant, after which these parts bobbed still more obviouslv 
upward before recovering the position usual to the floating or swimming bird. 
The rrourliiui^' posture. This was usually a.ssumed 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 posture “absolutely motionless for two or three 
seconds the Whistler would either resume its normal attitude or change to — 
I'hc zi'oiDidcd duck posture. In this the bird would lie with head and ex- 
