and kept on down river, flapping hurriedly as if badly 
frightened. It did not once make any vocal sound. 
Ducks 
Robins 
Pied-billed 
Grebe 
The Ducks were in a flooded meadow behind some button 
bushes at the head of Hunt’s Pond. I heard one of the females 
quacking loudly and continuously and paddled to within about 
sixty yards of the flock before they saw me and flew. They 
went off in loose order, like a bunch of Blackbirds. 
Robins were extraordinarily numerous to-day. I counted 
71 between the Buttricks* and Ball’s Hill. Most of them 
were running about on the ground near the edge of the water 
where the snow had melted. It is pd^bable that this earlier 
melting of the snow on the river banks had attracted them 
from further inland where no bare ground offered until later 
in the day. 
A Pied-billed Grebe, a fine old bird in full breeding 
plumage with black throat and gray head, spent the day in 
the river in front of the cabin ; diving at times for food in 
deep water about mid-way of the channel, but for the most 
part cruising warily about, turning its head-continually 
from side to side and evidently keeping a sharp watch for 
danger. I watched it at intervals through my glass. It is 
the first Pied-bill that I have ever seen in Massachusetts 
in spring. 
During a short walk which I took behind Ball’s Hill 
in the forenoon, I heard what I at first supposed to be a 
Jay making a succession of rather low, mewing calls, apparently 
