166 
1876. 
(Apr,22) 
• 23. 
Aug, 28. 
1876. 
Mar, 9, 
• 23. 
1880. 
Oct, 29, 
1881. 
Oct. 20, 
« 21 . 
1882* 
Sopt.28. 
Anas obscura. 
Middlesex County, Mass, 
A pair flying over the Maple Swamp, 
Pour in a birch-encircled pool in the Warren Run, 
basking in the sun, occasionally playing about on the 
VTater and chasing one another. Occasionally one would 
boat the water v/ith his pov/orful wings, churning it into 
foam, then another v7ould begin, and sometimes all four 
would be thrashing away together making a tremenduous 
noise. I repeatedly sav/ a drake swim rapidly around 
his mate (for they are evidently paired) apparently pay¬ 
ing court to her. Occasionally one v/ould quack three 
or four times but never very loudly. They spent much 
of their time in preening and arranging their plumage. 
Tv/o this evening flying lo'ff dovm over Bird’s Pond, 
Four seen by Frazar on Rock Meadow, Belmont. 
Pour on Cambridge River. 
A large flock on Concord River, 
Saw four twice in the same place in Concord River. 
The same four Ducks rose again this morning in the 
same spot; as wo returned late in the afternoon tv/o 
more had Joined them (Concord), 
Passing through the Sudbury Marshes this evening affle 
after dark v/o occasionally hear the hoarse quack of a 
Black Duck, startled from its feeding ground by the flap* 
ofour sail or the splash of an oar. For the most part, 
hov/ever, the only sounds that broke the silence were the 
rushing of the chilly east wind and the seething hiss 
of thickly falling rain drops on the dim expanse of wa¬ 
ters around , 
