WILD DUCK. 61 



In May the female produces a single lamb, over whose 

 welfare the mother shows great solicitude. The young, 

 until three or four weeks old, are unable to follow the par- 

 ent, but are hid away in the manner usual with deer; the 

 old lady, however, on such occasions never wanders far from 

 her offspring's hiding-place, and on the least suspicion of 

 danger rushes to her offspring, prepared to do battle with 

 all intruders, whatever may be their size or appearance. 

 The droppings of these animals, with the exception of their 

 size, exactly resemble those of sheep. 



I will relate two anecdotes illustrative of the chances of 

 accident that will occasionally occur to the sportsman, even 

 when in pursuit of animals which are generally deemed 

 harmless; and clearly proving how necessary presence of 

 mind and decision of character are to the person who 

 adopts wild life, or hopes to return safely from a trip to 

 the comparatively unknown tracks of the great north-west- 

 ern portion of the American continent. 



"The ice had just disappeared from the rivers; the wild 

 duck had already arrived in immense numbers, so that our 

 table daily had been graced with the choicest varieties, 

 when a thought struck me that an alteration of fish for 

 fowl would be most acceptable to the palates of the en- 

 campment. About a couple of miles distant, where the 

 river, contracted to one -fourth its usual breadth, rushed 

 into a noble pool, I had on the previous year been most 

 successful ; moreover, it was a pleasant place to fish no 

 overhanging bushes, but gently sloping, gravelly banks 

 nearly the entire length of its margin. In an hour I had se- 

 cured more trout than I felt disposed to carry ; so, work be- 

 ing over, I treated myself to a pipe. While enjoying my to- 

 bacco, a wading bird, of a description I never before saw, lit 

 close to me. It was so tame that I threw several stones at 

 it, almost with success, for the distance was not over ten or 



