62 WITH THE TSCAND- BIZDS ONCE MORE: 
this we had the satisfaction of seeing her 
piloting her little brood of ten, with nervous 
restlessness, in and out of the reeds close by. 
And one was missing from the clutch! Was 
it unhatched, or a prey to rats or pike ? 
By July these birds could fly. At this age 
the young birds are known as ‘flappers’, and 
in the following month, if still remaining 
there, they may fall to sportsmen with their 
guns and dogs. The old birds wili perhaps 
revisit the same spot next year, and try 
another hatch. And if not shot or killed, 
the young ones, too, might come back to the 
place where first they saw the day. 
When Ted and I now talk of Wild Duck 
Island, we know the spot we mean. 
But the island was to yield more dis- 
coveries this same day. We had almost 
made the round of it when, coming to an 
elder bush, out dropped, one by one, in 
pell-mell haste, some ten feet from _ the 
ground, a string of small black wriggling 
balls, which at first looked like small rats ; 
but soon we found that they were little 
