240 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



lend them some assistance. From what occurred in my 

 neighbor's poultry-yard, I should think young wood-ducks 

 might venture pretty much anywhere that a squirrel 

 would climb. Their scansorial ability is undoubtedly 

 equal to all occasions, and must be taken into considera- 

 tion when the manner of the exodus of the young ducks 

 from any nest is a matter of doubt. 



Two years later I found another duck's nest. In this 

 instance the nest was fully fifty feet above the water, 

 in a tangled mass of twigs and grape-vine, on a huge 

 buttonwood that grew from the water's edge and towered 

 nearly one hundred feet above the creek. The creek-bank 

 here was a steep bluff of about three fourths of the height 

 of the tree, and over all of the slope was a dense growth 

 of moderate-sized maples, sassafras, and cedars. Having 

 by chance found the nest, I hunted for a tree growing 

 on the bluff that would afford a good view of the nest. 

 Finally succeeding, I took up my position, and with the 

 aid of a field-glass discovered the duck sitting very quietly 

 on her nest. Day after day I returned, and on the sixth 

 from the date of discovery of the nest, the eggs were 

 hatched. Now my interest was fully up to the require- 

 ments of the occasion, and I was determined, at all cost, 

 to see how the duck would solve the riddle as it was to 

 me of removing these ducklings to the water. Go they 

 must, and that speedily, for the old mother, however de- 

 sirous, could not carry food to the young at any rate, 

 she did not. There they were, fifty feet above the water, 

 in a tree smooth of bark and almost perpendicular. How 

 I trembled with impatience to know what would happen, 

 and how long it seemed ! Would they climb down so 

 tall a tree ? If so, I trusted I should be on hand to wit- 

 ness the descent. 



Two days passed, and still these little fellows stuck to 



