246 THE WILD DUCK 



They begin to feed themselves at once, literally 

 scampering over the surface of the water or the 

 weeds, in pursuit of the flies which are to be found 

 upon it. 



If, as sometimes happens, the nest is at a 

 distance from the water I have found it myself 

 a good two miles even from a pond the mother 

 has the delicate and difficult task of convoying her 

 little brood amidst their two-legged and four-legged 

 enemies, and keeping them together, till they reach 

 the comparative safety of the river. I have often 

 come upon them during the journey ; and few things 

 can be more amusing or more touching than to 

 see the frantic efforts made by the mother to secure 

 the safety of her young, at the imminent risk of her 

 own. Like the partridge or the lapwing, under 

 similar circumstances, she goes tumbling and 

 shuffling along, with one wing hanging down, as 

 if broken, and keeping only a yard or two in front 

 of you, as she draws you away, in spite of yourself 

 for you know all the time, full well, that it is a 

 ruse till she feels assured that her ducklings, 

 startled by her first cry of alarm, have had time to 

 scuttle into the nearest ditch or tuft of brushwood, 

 when she flies triumphantly away with pinions 

 easily repaired. 



