XIII 



NEXT to the deer, the wild ducks were the 

 chief attraction of my pond. Indeed, they 

 might well be placed first, since they were always 

 at home there, and much of the time engaged in 

 one or another of the little comedies that make 

 ducks the most amusing of all birds. Eight sum- 

 mers in succession, and again after an interval 

 of two years, I found my pond occupied by a pair 

 of black mallards with their brood; and I fancied, 

 since migratory birds return to the place of their 

 birth, and their nestlings after them, that one of 

 the pair was the lineal descendant of ducks that 

 had held the place in undisputed possession for 

 tens of thousands of years. Here was a succession, 



[266] 



