IN THE WILD RICE FIELDS. 353 



left were taken by the bumblebees for homes in which 

 to do their housekeeping. 



Rarely, in such marshes, might be found the nest of 

 the great gray goose ; the female brooding her eggs on 

 a solid nest placed on a foundation of reeds and grass, 

 the faithful gander not far from his mate, ready, at an 

 instant's warning, to fight bravely in her defense, 

 should prowling fox, or coon, or wolf, approach his 

 home. Then, after the yellow goslings were hatched, 

 the pair led them, by well-known paths, hither and 

 thither through the rice fields, telling them where the 

 best food was to be found, where danger might lurk, 

 and teaching them how to live their lives. 



But it was when autumn came, and the ripened 

 grain, loose now in its husks, began, as the breezes 

 blew, to drop down into the water below, that the 

 greatest accessions came to the life of the wild rice 

 fields. Now, from the north, singly and by tens, and 

 hundreds, and thousands, came flying the hordes of 

 waterfowl which had been hatched and reared toward 

 the borders of the Arctic Sea. Their numbers were 

 beyond belief, and such as no man of the present day 

 can hope to see again. 



Flock after flock, they came dropping down into the 

 marsh, until the open spots were crowded with their 

 dark bodies, and from the concealment of the reeds, 

 where no water could be seen, tumultuous clamorings 

 told of other thousands hidden there. In those days, 

 when ducks were food for the infrequent dwellers of 

 those regions, the single discharge of a gun would sup- 



