Massachusetts Audubon Society 5 



wild bird. This year, having been disturbed on the border of the pond, 

 she made her nest in the long grass on the nearby playground, from 

 which on June 24th she triumphantly led to the pond ten young duck- 

 lings. 



Great was the joy among the local bird lovers, followed by sorrow, 

 for three days later duck and ducklings disappeared. On that day, 

 at eight o'clock in the morning, the police officer who regulates traffic 

 on one of the busiest Beacon Street crossings, saw a remarkable sight. 

 He has ushered or escorted all sorts and conditions of men, and even 

 some animals, safely across the wide street, but here came a new de- 

 mand on his chivalry, new even for him, for there appeared a family of 

 ten, so closely huddled together that they seemed one body, waiting a 

 chance to get across in safety. 



Up went his hand and trolley-cars, drays, trucks and automobiles, 

 big and little, stopped for a long slow crossing. Motors purred and 

 motorists laughed aloud when they saw for what they were held up, for 

 here was a mother wild duck and nine downy ducklings decorously 

 crossing Beacon Street in the heart of busy Brookline. And not a wheel 

 went forward until they were safely over; the policeman saw to that. 



A brother officer who happened to be on the spot, followed the 

 brood and their vigilant leader up Carlton Street toward the Riverway 

 Park, where no doubt the mother duck knew that conditions were well 

 suited to wild duck life. But the railroad tracks still lay between the 

 brood and saftey. Here, thought the watching policeman, was a poser. 

 The bridge they could not cross, the step up was too much for any tiny 

 duckling and the mother led them down the embankment to the tracks. 

 Here again it seemed they would be blocked, for the T-shaped iron rails 

 loomed well above their heads. Here, says the eye-witness, the mother 

 talked to them, scolded a bit and did her best to get them to go over. 

 Finally she lay down and rolled over the rails and the little ones, imi- 

 tating the manoeuver, "rolled over" in the same way. The policeman 

 says that is the only way he can described the action. After much 

 cajoling and duck talk, they imitated her and got over the rail, reaching 

 the river in safety. 



While the reason for the duck's change of residence remains a 

 mystery, it might be explained by the fact that some accident had be- 

 fallen one of her children on the night before she left the pond. 



BIRDING BY STEAMSHIP 



On a hot June night in the Gulf of Mexico I was suddenly awakened 

 by the stopping of the engines. Hurrying on deck in pajamas and slippers 

 I found that the ship had stopped to take on a pilot for the mouth of 

 the Mississippi River, I think it was the "South Pass". No matter how 

 familiar the captain may be with his particular "pass" he needs a pilot. 



