

The Mother Teal and the Overland Route 



A dangerous rest in the open was now en- 

 forced. The peepers came panting up to their 

 mother, and full of anxiety, she lay there beside 

 them till they were able to go on. Then she 

 led them as before, quacking gently, " Courage, 

 my darlings!" 



They were not half-way to the pond yet, and 

 the journey was telling on them long before they 

 reached this last friendly thicket. The brood 

 strung out into another procession, with a wide 

 gap to the run tie in the rear, when a great 

 Marsh Hawk suddenly appeared skimming low 

 over the ground. 



"Squat!" gasped Mother Greenwing, and 

 the little things all lay flat, except the last 

 one. Too far off to hear the low warning, 

 he struggled on. The great Hawk swooped, 

 seized him in his claws, and bore him peeping 

 away over the bushes. All the poor mother 

 could do was gaze in dumb sorrow as the 

 bloodthirsty pirate bore off the downling, unre- 

 sisted and unpunished. Yet, no ; not entirely ; 

 for, as he flew straight to the bank of the pond 

 where lodged his crew of young marauders, he 

 heedlessly passed over the home bush of a 



201 



