just before he gallops up, or foolishly tries to 

 creep within range behind his horse, when 

 the sentinel gives the alarm and the whole 

 flock takes wing and settles down comfort- 

 ably to feed in another part of the same 

 wheat-field. 



All this is the more remarkable in view of 

 the fact that this marvelous shrewdness with 

 which Waptonk evades the best inventions 

 of men, far from being a matter of instinct, 

 is imparted to him on the spot by his wise 

 old leaders. For untold generations he has 

 been born and bred in the waste places of 

 the North, where he sees no man and where 

 his life is singularly care-free and fearless. 

 When he starts southward for the first time, 

 full-grown and strong of wing, he knows 

 absolutely nothing of the world of men. 

 Left to himself and his own instincts he 

 would speedily tumble into the first cunning 

 pitfall, as his ancestors did when they met 

 for the first time the 



195 



In Quest of 

 ffieMItf^ 



