The Mother Teal and the Overland Route 



The enemy, though so near, had been baffled 

 after all. As the days went by, and the grand 

 finish of her task drew near, the little Green- 

 wing felt the mother-love growing in her heart 

 to be ready for the ten little prisoners that her 

 devotion was to set free. They were no longer 

 mere eggs, she felt, and sometimes she would 

 talk to them in low raucous tones, and they 

 would seem to answer from within in whispered 

 "peepings," or perhaps in sounds that have no 

 human name because too fine for human ear. 

 So there is small wonder that when they do 

 come out they have already learned many of 

 the few simple words that make up Teal-talk. 



The many hazards of the early nesting-time 

 were rapidly passed, but a new one came. The 

 growing springtime had turned into a drought. 

 No rain had fallen for many, many days, and 

 as the greatest day of all drew near, the mother 

 saw with dismay that the pond was shrinking, 

 quickly shrinking. Already it was rimmed 

 about by a great stretch of bare mud, and 

 unless the rains came soon, the first experience 

 of the little ones would be a perilous overland 

 journey. 



197 



