284 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



number of experiments. I came on a nest of the 

 wild duck in a marsh as the young birds had just 

 emerged from the eggs. The mother duck flew off 

 and disappeared in the sedge, flapping a wing to which 

 she pretended injury. I stood by the nest for some 

 hours and watched the young birds. The greater 

 number were already active and displaying an 

 interest in their surroundings. They began to 

 try to get out of the nest, and I took them one 

 by one in my hand and placed them in the water, 

 where in the stillness that reigned they splashed 

 and twittered and enjoyed themselves. They 

 showed not the slightest fear of me, nestling from 

 time to time on my feet, and turning intelligent 

 eyes upwards to look at me, evidently quite ready to 

 accept me in the fullest confidence as their guardian. 



The wild duck had been in these marshes for 

 untold ages. She had been here even in the days 

 when the woolly rhinoceros left its remains with 

 those of the cavemen in the adjacent hills. During 

 all this time her kind had been one of the most 

 universally hunted among wild creatures. The spent 

 cartridges of the modern sportsmen strewed the bog 

 around. Yet here were her offspring just entering 

 on the world and showing no sign of any kind of any 

 inborn fear of this the hereditary enemy of the species. 



After a time I moved away some distance to 



