Merganser amerioanus 
j *“-• 
I Lake Umbagog, Hew England. 
| 
1898. As we were sitting on the rocks at the end of Osgood's 
' 
Aug.28, Point we saw a number of Sheldrake round the S.W. extremity 
of Pine Point about hal~f-a-mile away. As they were heading 
/V 
towards us we decided to sit still and see if they would not 
come past us, watching them the while through our glasses. 
We might have concealed ourselves easily enough but I wanted 
to test the truth of a statement that Mr.Sherman had made to 
the effect that Sheldrake will not notice a man in the most 
exposed situation provided he remains motionless. These birds 
came on rapidly following every indentation of the rocky 
shore, now strung out in single file, next scattered about or 
huddled closely together, occasionally thrashing the water 
with their wings and frequently diving. 
I had several opportunities for watching the thrashing 
performance closely and I am satisfied that on this occasion 
at least, it was not performed, as has been suggested, for 
the purpose of driving fish in shore. The birds did not first 
arrange themselves in a semicircle as had been described (in 
Forest and Stream) nor did they move towards the shore while 
beating their wings. On the contrary they simply kept on 
their way (once in single file), first beating their wings 
■ . ■ . 
and then just ducking under for a moment at the end of the 
"thrashing". The whole thing seemed to me to be done in sheer 
/03 
