94 Union Bay 



Mississippi River stern-wheeler chugging along as stolidly 

 as if it were on its regular run. Where it came from or what 

 it was used for, I have no idea. I have mentioned it only to 

 illustrate my point that a man need be surprised at nothing. 

 Parrots, once residents of the South Seas, and coypus, fur 

 bearers from South America, are always a possibility— in fact 

 both of them have been reported although I have not seen 

 them personally. The live things which men keep in their 

 homes, or on their farms, or in museums, for food, fur, or 

 entertainment may escape. Where will they find a better 

 refuge than in such a spot? The sight of a bird three feet high, 

 with a blue bill, pink legs, and a white neck and black body, 

 would not astonish me. I would realize that it was something 

 that had escaped from the Woodland Park Zoo. An Indian 

 canoe on the canoehouse float did not make me think that a 

 native war was imminent. It had been shipped in for exhibi- 

 tion purposes and somebody had been curious enough to 

 want to try it out. A feathered arrow half buried in the bank 

 would not alarm me, for there was an archery butt a short 

 distance away and I would know that somebody had over- 

 shot the mark in a trial flight. 



It is not only the living things and mechanical devices 

 propelled by man that have appeared, but inanimate con- 

 trivances as well. I never knew what might float into the area. 

 A close inspection of some strange object bobbing among 

 the rushes of the bay was always worth while. It might be a 

 simple thing, but I found that I could always enjoy the 

 simple if I took time to peer behind it and try to glimpse the 

 complexity in the background. A crow flapped from a plank 

 near a white object which floated on the water. At first I 

 thought it a dead gull which the crow was checking as a 

 food possibility, but I saw the crow's presence was purely 

 accidental for the floating object was a doll, neatly con- 

 structed, with unbreakable head and eyes which closed. Its 

 paint, still bright, indicated a short stay in the water. It had 



