22 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



not particularly wild in the sense of being 

 timid, but rather only perfectly indifferent 

 to their foster hen, deliberately leaving her 

 when the netting was removed, and not 

 attempting to return, or even evincing any 

 sense of being lost. None of them survived. 

 Next year I intend to place among any 

 young Scaup hatched a duckling of domesti- 

 cated breed. The wild birds might thus be 

 induced to more quickly take to the strange 

 food offered them, and would also, I think, 

 more readily accept the alien mother. 



