292 WILD DUCKS. 



fectly natural. I would have given much for a 

 brace of good greyhounds trained to wolf-coursing, 

 to enable me to have the pleasure of taking the con- 

 ceit out of the braggart, for I owed him a grudge, 

 as I have no doubt it was he who, like certain dissi- 

 pated ' fast persons ' at home, kept me awake all 

 night by a series of howls which reminded me of a 

 ditty, doleful when sung by half-intoxicated Bac- 

 chanals, but regarded with great favour by those 

 who delight in drunken orgies, ' We won't go home 

 till morning/ If I could have succeeded in tying a 

 kettle to Mr. Lupus's tail, although thereby I should 

 have made myself amenable to that excellent In- 

 stitution for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 

 I certainly would have done so. 



The last sight I had of my grizzly friend he was 

 scratching himself after the manner of a dog ; at the 

 same time, with his weather-eye open, looking over 

 his shoulder in my direction. Possibly after my back 

 was turned he shook his lugs, after the manner of 

 Burns's c dougs/ and rejoiced that he was not a man. 



To-day the country improved, and wild ducks 

 were numerous wherever there was a deposit of 

 water. Many families of young birds, already half 

 grown, I disturbed, their anxious mothers exercising 

 all their ingenuity, by assuming lameness and in- 

 capacity of flight, to draw me away from their 

 defenceless brood. 



What a beautiful example of maternal affection 

 these birds display ! Could some of those gin- 



