CHAPTER XX; 
FLAPPERS TO! FLYERS. 
The month of July, with its sultry heat and breeze- 
less nights, is generally conceded to be the most 
despised month of the year. The mosquitoes have their 
innings, greenhead and bulldog flies render the cattle 
miserable, and all Nature feels oppressed. The creeks 
and streams are low, thé sloughs, musquaids and 
ponds are dry, save where some hole or deep depres- 
sion contains some stagnant algae-covered water. 
Now the flappers begin to move, seeking with un- 
erring instinct fresh water-holes. Although not able 
to fly, they can walk and run with ease through the 
by-paths, entangled sloughs and marshes, until they 
find the places they seek; and continue doing so as the 
pond holes and sloughs become dry and urge them 
onward. Those upon the big lakes, rivers and water- 
courses do not change so often, owing to the presence 
of water; yet, they, too, enjoy to swim in and explore 
new territories, as well as their less fortunate rela- 
tions, although not compelled to do so unless the food 
supply becomes scanty and hard to find. New seeds 
have now appeared so that their food consists of more 
varieties; insect life with larva is more abundant, ow- 
ing to the watery environments being curtailed. 
They now grow larger and fatter, having lost all 
their downy covering, which has been replaced by 
feathers which grow fast, soon overlap and spread 
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