EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 245 
cessantly diving close to the button bushes. The 
female is apparently uniformly black, another, 
dark brown, but the male has a conspicuous 
crest. Apparently white on the hind head, 
with a white breast and white line on the lower 
sides of the neck; that is, the head and breast 
are black and white conspicuously. 
The sheldrake has a peculiar long clipper 
look, often moving rapidly straight forward 
over the water. It sinks to very various depths, 
sometimes, as when apparently alarmed, show¬ 
ing only its head and neck and the upper part 
of its back, and at others, when at ease, float¬ 
ing buoyantly on the surface, as if it had taken 
in more air, showing all its white breast and 
the white along its sides. Sometimes it lifts 
itself up on the surface and flaps its wings, re¬ 
vealing its whole rosaceous breast and its lower 
parts, looking in form like a penguin. 
It was a pretty sight to see a pair of them tack¬ 
ing about, always within a foot or two of each 
other, heading the same way, now on this short 
tack, now on that, the male taking the lead, 
sinking deep and looking every way. When 
the whole twelve had come together they 
would soon break up again, and were continu¬ 
ally changing their ground, though not diving, 
now sailing slowly this w r ay a dozen rods, and 
now that, and now coming in near the shore. 
