104 HUNTING TRIPS 



teal flew swiftly by, and to his astonishment 

 the eagle made after them. The little ducks 

 went along like bullets, their wings work- 

 ing so fast that they whistled; flop, flop 

 came the great eagle after them, with la- 

 bored-looking flight; and yet he actually 

 gained so rapidly on his seemingly fleeter 

 quarry that he was almost up to them when 

 opposite my friend. Then the five teal went 

 down headlong into the water, diving like 

 so many shot. The eagle kept hovering over 

 the spot, thrusting with its claws at each lit- 

 tle duck as it came up; but he was unsuc- 

 cessful, all of the teal eventually getting into 

 the reeds, where they were safe. In the 

 East, by the way, I have seen the same trick 

 of hovering over the water where a flock of 

 ducks had disappeared, performed by a 

 Cooper's hawk. He had stooped at some 

 nearly grown flappers of the black duck ; they 

 all went under water, and he remained just 

 above, grasping at any one that appeared, 

 and forcing them to go under without get- 

 ting a chance to breathe. Soon he had 



