248 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



They'd feed by night where they'd never go by day, but 

 the whole place would be picketed, and you couldn't get 

 anywhere near 'em. Before your boat was shoved off, 

 ' quack ! ' would yawp some spy, and the whole kit and 

 caboodle would be off. I could hear their splash on the 

 water as they rose up, but couldn't see a feather." 



" I've noticed all this too, Uz, but where is it like 

 human nature to do as you've described ? " 



" Just here just here. The ducks we've left us in 

 these parts know at a glance that it's dangerous ground 

 for 'em, and so they learn at the start to be extra careful. 

 None of 'em are hatched about here, and couldn't know 

 beforehand they'd ever see such a place ; and yet, so 

 soon as the freshets bring 'em up the river, they take it 

 all in at once, and work accordin'. A wild duck is wild 

 anywhere ; but 'round here he's wilder than ever ; and 

 this bein' wilder only means that he has to be more care- 

 ful and cunnin', and so he is so. That is why I think a 

 duck has some sort of a mind. It's a hard-twisted sub- 

 ject, I know ; but the more I think of it, the more I've a 

 notion that there's a smack of man-nature in wild ducks, 

 or t' other way, just as you please." 



"Most people would want stronger evidence than 

 you mention, Uz, to make them think so," I replied, not 

 knowing what to say, really. 



" I s'pose they would I s'pose they would ; but the 

 only way to see things as I do is to use my eyes. Follow 

 up the ducks and other critters about here, as I've done, 

 and they'll look very different to you from what they do 

 when you see 'em once a year only, and then in a m'nagerie. 

 Pshaw ! boy, it takes years to get to knowing birds and 

 tilings ; but when you do, you'll give 'em more credit for 

 common-sense than the crowd gives 'em. When you're 

 my age, boy, if you follow it up, you'll think as I do. 5 



