58 The Water-fowl Family 



yet ducks were in plenty. Occasionally a stagnant 

 pool broadened out the banks; these were per- 

 haps twenty feet high, so steep and narrow it was 

 possible to walk a few feet from the edge without 

 even seeing the water below. We rode along the 

 plain, yellow with dry, wavy grass, dotted as far 

 as the eye could reach with cattle, for the cattle, 

 like all other living things, are concentrated near 

 water. It was a still, bright day, characteristic of 

 a desert country. For a short distance we trav- 

 elled away from the stream, expecting to follow it 

 a little farther from the ranch. Almost before we 

 had realized it was near, a flock of gadwall rose 

 up, as it were, out of the earth. Quickly handing 

 over the horses to the Mexican, we crept along 

 the bank; a quack just ahead and beneath us, and 

 in another minute we found him, an old green- 

 head, in a puddle all by himself, right under our 

 feet. He sprang into the air, and startled as he 

 did so a flock of gadwall. They offered a perfect 

 shot ; two dropped, and instantly ducks rose out 

 of the ground in scores ; teal, gadwall, shovellers, 

 a few sprigs, and mallard. For a short time the 

 shooting was fast, birds passing overhead back 

 and forth, following the course of the arroyo, 

 suddenly dropping down out of sight far ahead. 

 Between us we picked up perhaps a dozen, gad- 

 wall and teal mostly, occasionally a sprigtail and 

 a widgeon ; then we mounted and rode on, strik- 



