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As we approached the hills below Ball's Hill, a 
pair of Red-shouldered Hawks began screaming among the pines 
where the Cooper's Hawks breed and the next moment rose above 
the trees and soared majestically upward, circling in 
opposite directions and passing each other every naif turn. 
They mounted to such a height that we actually could not see 
them at all without the aid of our glasses and finally 
scaled down on a long incline into the Bedford Swamp, des¬ 
cending witn meteoric speed. 
Just after they disappeared, as I was starting to 
paddle again, we heard a Grouse chitter on a little wooded 
knoll, now an island within 20 yards ana presently saw the 
bird stalk over the crest under a small hemlock. Our atten¬ 
tion was next attracted by two pairs of Gooseanders, the drakes 
in full plumage, which were floating in mid-stream. They soon 
rose and were joined by a Black Duck, all five birds finally 
alighting again in the wood-encircled meadow near the pines 
on the edge of the Bedford Swamp. We followed and, under 
the cover of the outer belt of birches, got within about 200 
yards of them and watched them for ten or fifteen minutes 
through our glasses. The drakes were very showy, looking 
almost as white as Gulls, their coral red bills very con¬ 
spicuous. One of them repeatedly lay over on his side and 
plumed his breast and abdomen, displaying the rich salmon 
coloring of these parts! Both drakes devoted much of the 
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