90 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



A week later, June llth, I returned early in 

 the forenoon, and found the old duck still hold- 

 ing down the bare knoll. I focused the kodak, 

 took a picture of the pale-blue beauties, then at- 

 tached the string and drew it back through the 

 bluff. As the day promised to be hot, I tied a 

 screen of branches over the kodak, and then 

 slipped away. For a hiding-place I chose the 

 corner of a little poplar clump, situated a short 

 distance across the field. 



I had been in hiding about an hour when the 

 sharp whiffle of a duck-wing came to my ear, and 

 there passing overhead was the mallard. She cir- 

 cled around the kodak in a lazy, contented sort of 

 way, and then went back to the slough. When 

 another hour had slipped by, she did the same 

 thing; then repeated the manoeuvre a third time, 

 and I began to realize that my duck meant real 

 opposition. It was the satisfied manner in which 

 she carried herself around over the machine that 

 impressed me. We are told by the knowing ones 

 who are experts on the working of the mental 

 machinery in craniums that animals cannot rea- 

 son, but this bird evidently knew that her eggs 

 were in no danger of chilling during her absence ; 



