80 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



the grass blades in her artful way, the nest would 

 have been practically invisible. 



To me, a wild duck's nest is always something 

 of a mystery. The strange thing about it is that 

 the little mother ever succeeds at all in bringing 

 any progeny into the world. It is surely a trib- 

 ute to her wonderful cleverness that the big 

 hawks, the great horned owls, the foxes, coyotes, 

 weasels, minks, skunks, badgers, and perhaps 

 worse than any of these, the crows, also the dev- 

 astating plows and prairie-fires of man, — ^her 

 worst foe — all combined and working by day and 

 by night, cannot prevent her from hatching; 

 though, alas, some one of this pernicious combi- 

 nation sacks the nest all too often. If the first 

 hatching is destroyed, she bravely begins all over 

 again. It is probably this duck trait that has 

 been instrumental largely in keeping the species 

 in existence in the face of such terrible odds. My 

 note-book holds two records, which I regard as 

 authentic, of a duck found hatching in Septem- 

 ber — the gunning season. She must have a cour- 

 age beyond our understanding, or be endowed 

 naturally with a callousness to dread and danger. 

 That she is a mighty cunning and ingenious 

 mother is shown by the diversity in kind of site 



