Sheldrakes yet on Walden

April 16. 

Sheldrakes yet on Walden, but I have not identified a whistler for several weeks, — three or more.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, April 16, 1859

Sheldrakes yet on Walden. See April 16, 1855 ("At Flint’s, sitting on the rock, we see a great many ducks, mostly sheldrakes, on the pond, which will hardly abide us within half a mile. With the glass I see by their reddish heads that all of one party ——the main body—are females. ").   See also March 30, 1859 ("See on Walden two sheldrakes, male and female, as is common. So they have for some time paired. They are a hundred rods off. The male the larger, with his black head and white breast, the female with a red head."). Also. Henry Thoreau, A Book of the Seasons, The Sheldrake (Merganser, Goosander)

I have not identified a whistler for several weeks. See March 23, 1859 ("As we sail upward toward the pond, we scare up two or three golden-eyes, or whistlers, showing their large black heads and black backs, and afterward I watch one swimming not far before us and see the white spot, amid the black, on the side of his head.") See also April 16, 1855 ("Anon alights near us a flock of golden-eyes — surely, with their great black (looking) heads and a white patch on the side; short much clear black, contrasting with much clear white. Their heads and bills look ludicrously short and parrot-like after the others.") Also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Goldeneye (Whistler)