168 Union Bay 



from the surface of the water at the rear of the canoe. It is a 

 valuable plant because the waterfowl esteem it highly both 

 for food and for cover. It is a near relative of the plant called 

 lady's-thumb, a troublesome and widely distributed weed 

 which derives its name from the fact that the leaves are gen- 

 erally marked with a dark blotch as if they had been bruised 

 by pressure. Several legends are connected with this plant. 

 One concerns its attempted use. as a poultice by Mary, who 

 pinched the leaves when she found them useless as a cure 

 for the injured hand of Joseph. I have always thought that 

 only lady's-thumb, one variety of the smartweeds, carried 

 these blotches, but many of the leaves of the plant in .my 

 hands bear the same mark as its land relative. This water 

 plant will soon be covered with a small and inconspicuous 

 bloom of a pinkish cast and borne scantily on a raceme, quite 

 different from the rather solid heads of the shore variety. 



I look about the cove, formerly a purple circle of loose- 

 strife and so shallow that I could not force the canoe through 

 it. Now that the water depth has increased, the loosestrife 

 remains only in the shallower portions, and the center has 

 been abandoned to the carp which come annually in numbers 

 to spawn. The cove is muddy then, but now it is quiet and 

 the water clear. 



The wind increases in strength and the overmature petals 

 of the loosestrife are blown into the water in quantities great 

 enough to make floating patches of color. The University 

 chimes ring. As if waiting for the sound, several mallards 

 start bathing and a pied-billed grebe gives its barking call. 

 I wonder if the call is an indication of a second brood or 

 whether it is just a leftover from the first. The mallards bathe 

 noisily like a group of boys; they force the water through 

 their plumage and then begin to shake themselves vigorously. 

 This should make a good slogan for children: "If the water 

 birds bathe regularly, why can't you?" The clouds over the 

 Cascade Range have formed a wall which shuts off the view. 



