126 CURRITUCK MARSHES. 



of wind means a change of depth of water, it is shal- 

 lower to windward, the water being jailed up to lee- 

 ward and the ducks, knowing this, fly against the 

 wind, all the shoal feeding birds do so. The 

 canvas-backs, red-heads, and broad -bills make little 

 account of the wind." 



" But," I answered, " this wind cannot as yet have 

 affected the depth of water." 



'^No, but the birds know that it soon will, and 

 they are getting ready for to-morrow. There will 

 probably be a greater change than we expect, wild 

 animals know much more about the weather than 

 man can ever learn, they have a sort of instinct that 

 is given to them for their protection. I have always 

 observed that the ducks sought the w^indward side 

 of the marshes. If the wind is blowing from the 

 south, I make it a rule to go to the southward to 

 choose a stand, if from the west I look through the 

 western marshes and so on. Of course I am not al- 

 ways right." 



''No," I interrupted him to remark, ''but we have 

 observed that the member who goes out with you 

 generally brings in the most birds, so the results 

 tend to demonstrate the theory." 



"Well, I have studied these marshes as thor- 

 oughly as I could ; there is not a tree that I have not 

 climbed, nor an island that I have not explored." 



"Can you see much from the trees wlien you do 

 climb them ?" I asked. 



"Yes. A little elevation will enable you to see 

 over the entire marsh, and many a pond hole have I 



