A MOUNTAIN POND 97 



indeed it is, though the only manual I had 

 brought with me turned out not to mention 

 the point) ; but while for much of the time 

 the bird's feet were visible, it never for so 

 much as a second held them still, and as the 

 water was none too clear and the bottom 

 muddy, it was impossible for me to see how 

 the toes were webbed, or even to be certain 

 that they were webbed at all. Once, as the 

 bird was close to the shore, and almost at 

 my feet, I crouched upon a log, thinking to 

 pick the creature up and examine it ; but it 

 moved quietly away for a yard or so, just 

 out of reach, and though I could probably 

 have killed it with a stick, as a friend of 

 mine killed one some years ago on a moun- 

 tain lake in New Hampshire, 1 it was hap- 

 pily 'too late when the possibility of such a 

 step occurred to me. By that time I was 

 not on collecting terms with the bird. It 

 was " not born for death," I thought, or, if 

 it was, I was not born to play the execu- 

 tioner. 



Its activity was amazing. If I had not 

 known this to be natural to the phalarope 

 family, I might have thought the poor thing 



1 The case is recorded in The Auk, vol. vi. page 68. 



