AMERICAN ORNITHOL OGY. 



379 



his brothers crowded him and stepped on his toes, he grumbled be- 

 cause he could not go out and sail upon the water, how should he ever 

 reach it so far away. He cried because the doorway was so far from 

 the ground. What if he should fall, he would surely break his neck. 

 He cried for a gorgeous coat like the one his father wore; he cried 

 because he was too warm; he cried because he was too cold; in short 

 he cried for everything and he cried for nothing. As soon as the last 

 fluffy duckling had left its shell, Mrs. Wood Duck decided that 

 life in the open air was better for her children, and that once upon the 

 waters of the lake, they could get plenty of food. But how do you 

 suppose she was to get these twelve young ducklings from a hole in a 

 tree, eight feet from the ground, to the waterside, twenty yards away. 

 This is what she did. 



First she lifted squalling Ducky Sponsa in her bill, by the nape of 

 the neck, and landed him safely at the foot of the tree; then back she 

 flew and took Daffy Duckling by the wing and bore her to the ground 

 to her brother's side; back again she fiew for another, then another and 

 another until in less time than I can tell it, there were twelve fluffy 

 balls on the grass ready to follow mother to the water's edge. 



Here, all through the bright summer months, the little family sailed 

 upon the placid bosom of the lake, or played among the grasses at its 

 edge, making trips into the forest for insects and other dainties for 

 frequent lunches. Thus summer passed. The children grew, as 

 children have a way of doing, and the twelve little ducklings were now 

 twelve handsome full grown ducks. It was a pretty sight to see Ducky 

 and his brothers floating on the water, proudly raising their golden- 

 green crests, with their spotted ruddy breasts, white vests and ties, 

 and with their irridescent backs throwing bright sprays of color into 

 the sunlight, while Daflfy followed seemingly as happy as they, though 

 her gown was of sooty brown with white feather trimmings. 



But alas. Although Ducky Sponsa had donned the splendid plumage 

 of the mature bird, he still kept his ill-temper, and was as cross and 

 hard to suit as when he first saw the sunlight in the hollow oak. 

 "Peet-peet, oe-eek, oe-eek," you might have heard him scold all day 

 long and I am not sure but that he scolded in his dreams. 



When October came with its cool days. Madam Wood Duck called 

 her children to join their hands to take the trip to the warmer South- 

 land. "Peet-peet" called Ducky Sponsa, "I shall not go. Who knows 

 what dreadful things we might meet on that long journey?" So he 

 slipped away and hid in a quiet inlet among the shadows of the forest, 

 until his mates should be gone. 



Here on the very day after his comrades had taken their flight, he 



