The Mother Teal and the Overland Route 



lunge at the mother; but she could dive, and 

 giving a good-by splash, she easily disappeared. 



Far in the rushes she came up, and called a 

 gentle quack, quack! The nine tired little 

 ones came to her, and safely they rested at last. 



But that was not all. Just as they began 

 to feast on the teeming insect life, a far-away 

 faint peep was heard. Mother Greenwing 

 called again her mothering qu-a-a-a-a-a-c-c—k. 

 And through the sedge demurely paddling, like 

 an old-timer, came their missing one that the 

 Hawk had carried off. 



He had not been hurt by the claws. The 

 valiant Kingbird had overtaken the Hawk over 

 the pond. At the first blow of his bill the 

 Hawk had shrieked and dropped his prey ; the 

 little Duck fell unharmed into the water, and 

 escaped into the rushes till his mother and 

 brothers came, then he rejoined them, and they 

 lived happily in the great pond till they all 

 grew up and flew away on wings of their own. 



=- 



209 



'j^Jc^t ^ 



