of course, took the first one. Another, the 
smallest of the lot, was sickly from the beginning 
and it was hard for it to keep up with the others, 
so when good things were found to eat it did not 
always arrive in time to get its share. At last 
there came a morning when it was too weak to 
rise and the others all swam away and left it. 
Still another got lost one day, and they never 
saw it again. Some other mother duck may 
have adopted it and brought it up with her own 
family. The fourth disappeared in a most 
mysterious manner. It was gliding along with 
the others one morning when all at once it was 
jerked under water and never came up. ‘This 
happened so quickly that few of the family saw 
it go down and as for the poor duckling, it did 
not have time to quack even once before the 
water closed over its head. There are some fish 
that have a way of grabbing little ducks by the 
feet and eating them, and sometimes turtles 
or large frogs will do the same. All about the 
lake such tragedies as these were happening 
to young water-birds every day. Maybe the 
reason a duck lays and hatches such a large 
223 
