Among the Guests Registered 



13 



M ^S+ I SUSPECT THAT THERE IS A TRACE 



of the collector in most of us so that we like to gather things 

 or materials or sensations. Even those who are content to go 

 along in their ordinary routine gleefully welcome the un- 

 usual, whether it be in pottery, golf scores, boat races, or 

 anything else in which they have an interest. 



I have always assumed such an attitude toward my experi- 

 ences in the marsh— a more or less philosophical and placid 

 acceptance of the ordinary and a keen delight in every devia- 

 tion from it. On many occasions I have seen nothing of con- 

 sequence during the whole day, the sum total being only a 

 few additions to the little I had accumulated about this or 

 that bird or mammal, a few more notes on the vegetation, 

 the effects of the changing water depth, the unusual varia- 

 tion in the shape of the arrowhead leaves, or any of a hun- 

 dred other trifles. On one occasion I watched a fight between 

 two coots, an affair which came close to being a burlesque 

 duel, a contest in which two clumsy birds raised themselves 

 into an upright position, which they maintained with their 

 wings while they sparred mightily but without causing any 

 visible damage. One of them, either from loss of energy or 



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