Merganser americanus. Lake Umbagog, New England. 1898. sport. Black Ducks indulge themselves in much the same way Aug.28. but less frequently. (No.2). When diving for fish these Sheldrake often sprang for- ward quite out water and arching their backs cleft the sur- face so deftly as to leave scarce a ripple. Their dives were usually short and invariably made in the general direction in which the flock were was moving. That is to say they never turned back but occasionally a bird would come up a little way out from shore when it would at once paddle hurriedly in to join its comrades. At length the flock reached us and rounded the point within three feet of the shore and not over six feet from where we were sitting! Yet so far as we could make out not a bird discov- ered us or even suspected the presence of danger. There were just twelve of them and for a moment or two a blanket would have covered them all. every one Beautiful creatures they were with their soft gray plu- mage and fluffy, tawny crests carried low down on the head and terminating in delicately drawn points ~~~27~~ Just as they came abreast of us each bird lowered its bill suddenly and thrust its head beneath the surface until the water came about half-an-inch above its eyes. In this attitude and with- out for an instant checking their speed they paddled steadily on and passed out of our sight behind a projection of the shore. 104