THE COMMON WILD DUCK 191 



mouth of one of the pipes. There is something 

 there, just inside, some are softly quacking and 

 spattering in the very height of enjoyment. 



Up the whole lot paddle ; those on the turf-banks 

 leave off feather-trimming and come also. Their 

 friends swim further up the pipe, and they follow. 

 But what of that ? What business has that strange 

 creature on the bank of that nice water-way, a 

 beautiful curving dyke with food to be got there ? 

 Once more the strano^e form shows like a flash. 

 The wild-fowl make up their mind to see what it 

 is ; they will not put up with this mystery. Away 

 the lot go after it, necks stretched, paddling their 

 hardest ; to find that their dear new friends have 

 left them without their knowing it, and have come 

 back to the mouth of the pipe. 



They then catch sight of something far worse 

 than the red dog they have been following up : this 

 is the coyman, who now shows himself, for they are 

 far enough up for him to do so. Up they get, all 

 the lot of them ; round the bend they go, the 

 coyman following. But they do not see daylight 

 at the other end, for the tunnel gets narrower and 

 narrower. They are not able to use their wings ; 

 down they drop, to rush one over the other into 

 the hooped net at the end, the fatal tail of that 

 long pipe. This the coyman unhooks, and then he 

 at once proceeds to break their necks very neatly 

 and expeditiously. 



A short time back that lot of ducks, or we might 

 say ducks and drakes — Mallards — ninety-five of 



