20J 



Waptonk was evidently amazed at my quiet. 

 Having expected either fight or flight, he was 

 thrown off his balance and hardly knew how v^ " »£- 

 m mPPt thp Pmpraenrv T fancied I could see wP'O&nfZT 



to meet the emergency. I fancied I could see 

 it all in his eyes as he looked at me steadily. 

 A moment or two he kept his defensive atti- 

 tude, till the hissing gradually died away. 

 He raised himself suddenly and threshed his 

 great wings in my face. I could feel the 

 strong wind of them on my cheek and meas- 

 ure the nervous muscular beat under his 

 feathers as he tried their power. Then he 

 put his head down to the ground and hissed 

 again, daring me to come on. 



Ten yards behind him sat his mate, her 

 head raised out of the grass, watching us 

 steadily without a sound. Suddenly she ut- 

 tered a low call with a curious accent of 

 warning and reassurance. It was a commu- 

 nication to her champion, plainly enough, 

 for he wavered slightly for the first time 

 from his intense attitude. The next moment 

 she slipped out of the grass into the pond, 

 and after her came five goslings, alert little 

 bundles of yellow-brown fuzz, that walked 



/y«/(/V 



