266 A BAY ON A NORFOLK MERE 



in the bordering sedge ; a wild duck or two flew 

 over our heads, and dropped with a "swish" into 

 the mid- water ; and a good opera-glass, and a power- 

 ful telescope which my friend had brought with 

 him, soon served to brighten the prospect, and to 

 people even the remoter corners of the solitude 

 with feathered life. First, I think, we managed to 

 descry a gadwall, then a pair of teal, then, here 

 and there, a pochard, next, two or three pairs of 

 tufted ducks, and then, a solitary male of the 

 pintailed duck, with his long curved tail-feathers, 

 swimming, in stately solicitude, up and down in 

 front of an island of reeds, which, it was probable, 

 contained his mate and nest. Presently my friend 

 handed the glass to me and said, " Look at that 

 slope of grass beyond the distant tussocks of 

 rushes." I did so, and the smooth emerald-green 

 soon resolved itself into something still better ; for 

 it proved to be dotted with some thirty gorgeous 

 mallards, some of them basking in the sun, some 

 preening themselves in all their glorious spring 

 apparel, and some fast asleep with their heads 

 nestling under their wings. Each one of these 

 has, in all probability, a mate sitting hard upon 

 her eggs, within the distance of a mile or two, or 

 bustling about, like other mothers, solicitously with 



