ALDERS AND REEDS. 87 



" Well, this is what happens to your ducklings : 

 that big jack swims up to the mouth of the feeding- 

 stream, to pick up a fish here and a fish there, 

 just to pass the time till the little ducks, which 

 are a delicacy to him, are on the water. If there 

 is one the right size to suit him, he has it ; if not, 

 he goes back to other feed. By-and-by he returns 

 to the deep water, and lies, probably in a long hole 

 in the wall, near the old sluice-gates. He keeps near 

 the mouth of the stream all the day, and is here again 

 in the evening when the ducks come home." 



" But how be I to get him ? " 



" Do you happen to have any sparrow-threshing 

 poles ? " 



" If ye mean they bat-folding poles, I've got a 

 pair o' them, hard to beat, fourteen feet long, 

 straight as gun-barrels, and tough as wire; regular 

 good uns you may bend but you'll not break 'em." 



Those bat-folding poles fully deserved his praise, 

 for they were a pair of beautiful well - seasoned 

 ground ash saplings. 



" Now, what next ? " said their owner. 



" Some wood-mice," I replied, " if you can turn 

 out any." 



