To Mountain Tarn 



robbed. The eggs were brought to the scene it 

 was desired to enrich, and hatched out there. 



The broods were carefully reared. A man 

 with a bag, not unlike that of a sower in a grain- 

 field, or the hen farmer feeding his chickens, went 

 his rounds. The young took to what they were 

 intended to mistake for their native water. 

 When all were afloat, the view, so much more 

 generous than nature, enlivened the spirit of the 

 experimenter. It was plain they could be tamed. 

 The wild-fowl nested where they were reared. 

 They were faithful as curses in coming back to 

 their owners, and of much the same moral com- 

 plexion. Wild ducks sat while the man with the 

 bag attended to their wants, just as domestic 

 ducks would do with the hen wife. It is by no 

 means certain that some of them did not cross 

 with the ducks of the cottages round about, to 

 make the progeny still more amenable to dis- 

 cipline. 



All this just shows how men are attracted by 

 the charm of a pursuit, and then proceed to kill 

 that charm out how they think they will improve 

 upon nature ; and, deceived by the near success, 

 are blind to the more distant failure. Sport, virile 

 at the first, interesting in the wild resourcefulness 

 of the quarry, and the keenness of the pursuit, 

 comes to this. Perhaps the gun gets into the 

 hands of the wrong people. From the stalk by 

 the streamside, the hiding among the moist 



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