OUTDOORS 



branch of some oak or hickory he poses statue- 

 like, a bright fleck in the sunlight. 



Marsh-hawks, or u harriers," their broad 

 wings tacking here and there, sail warily about 

 these wildernesses. They are great hunters of 

 mice and such small deer, and the plover, 

 snipe, rail, and other birds are their lawful 

 prey. And woe to the wounded duck that 

 has escaped the hunters when this freebooter 

 discovers his whereabouts. There is a poise, a 

 dart, a finishing of what man commenced, and 

 only scattered feathers to tell the story. If 

 you push a duck-boat into the more remote 

 fens you may be rewarded by seeing a brace 

 of belated mallards rise from the bogs, their 

 long necks reaching out, and usually a startled 

 " quack, quack, quack " issuing from their 

 opened bills. 



Or maybe a lone teal will scurry past, the 

 very sense of music in his flight, the least 

 possible crisping of the air to mark his sym- 

 metrical course. No painter can draw a line 

 on canvas like the flight of wild-fowl along 

 the sky. 



Where the shallow " slues " extend out 

 from the marsh the " tip-ups " stay, those 

 4 



