A STUDY OF DUCKS ABOVE THE CLOUDS 49 



indicative of uncertainty in the water's invitation to 

 alight and rest. 



Their behavior was very different from the ducks 1 

 liad watched circling near sea level when they were in 

 search of a sanctuary. With great interest I watched 

 them descend, only to arise again and circle the crater in 

 search of greater safety. This was repeated many times. 

 Finally an old greenhead took the lead, apparently being 

 freighted with a spirit of desperation. 



Pointing his wings, with his feet extended, he slowly 

 volplaned down and landed upon the placid waters of 

 Crater Lake, quietly followed by his extensive family. 

 They were unquestionably imbued with the same feeling 

 whiol. possessed the writer — enchanted and spellbound 

 with the mystery and strangeness of their surroundings. 



A step nearer the rim of the crater and I became oIj- 

 sessed with a spirit of witchery. My hand grasped a 

 manzineta bush and I swung farther out over that awful 

 chasin. As I gazed down that apparently perpendicular 

 cliff the sensations of falling from a dizzy height Avere 

 upon me. The same mental condition prevailed that I 

 experienced when my first aeroplane glide was made to 

 earth from an altitude of a half mile. It was a feeling 

 of goneness, accompanied by a complete loss of breath. 

 We have all experienced the same combination in our 

 dreams. 



