Crossing the Great Plains 39 



The ducks too were all winging their 

 way northward to their summer breeding- 

 grounds, and they could be seen at morn- 

 ing and evening feeding in all the bayous 

 and lagoons, and upon the slow running 

 creeks that, fringed with small cotton- 

 woods, wound in and out through the low- 

 lands. There were many kinds of ducks, 

 some of them, like the Harlequin and the 

 wood duck, gay in their brilliant plumage, 

 while others were more sober in grays and 

 browns. But among the social company 

 which gabbled as they fed were goodly 

 mallards, and red-eyes, yellow-eyes and 

 canvass-backs, all fat from their sojourn in 

 the South where there was the very best of 

 living just to be had for the taking. 



Mr. Anderson was an old hunter, and as 

 there were two rifles in the wagon, not to 

 mention an old shotgun, there was usually 

 plenty of fresh duck or prairie chicken to 

 eat. The rivers swarmed with fish which 



