Bosphodytes cucullatus Lake Umbagog, Maine. 1889 Maine Oct. 24 S. Umbagog - A flock of six, bad. 38, just north of Rapid Ruin. Doubtless the same birds seen yesterday. Had a good chance to stalk them & got within 30 yds. but the bushes were so thick that I could see only one a fair drake. He heard me rustle a leaf and at once spread his crest to its fullest extend crest expanded and called out warningly koke, o-o-o-o-ve, the best Notes part of the cry a hard wooden rolling note very like the growling cry of the Peaked Frog. The next I saw of them they had flown out of range & soon after they flew. The sound I made would never have been noticed by by Black Ducks. Besides these I saw four other young dez at least brown birds. Three of the latter flew past us within good range as we were rowing on open water. Like Sheldrake they do not seem aware of the danger of flying past within range. They are the swiftest flyers of all the Ducks that visit Umbagog. They rise from the water with some difficulty the feet, & perhaps the abdomen, also, trailing on the surface for several yards leaving a slight "wake". When fairly under way they fly at a height of about 30 feet almost as this whip moving with great velocity as a Hummingbird. They always follow the channel of a stream or the open water of a lagoon as closely as possible preferring to go a great distance around when necessary rather than cut across through the woods. They usually feed in shallow ponds with muddy dry bottom, often very small ponds in deep woods. They rarely or never haunt rocky, gravelly or sandy shores like the Sheldrake and I think more slight or at least feed in swift water. They often feed in shallow water among grass. 124