226 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



the waters of Mono, where they may rest as long 

 as they like. 



Ducks of five or six species, among which are 

 the mallard and wood duck, go far up into the 

 heart of the mountains in the spring, and of 

 course come down in the fall with the families 

 they have reared. A few, as if loath to leave 

 the mountains, pass the winter in the lower val- 

 leys of the Park at a height of three thousand to 

 four thousand feet, where the main streams are 

 never wholly frozen over, and snow never falls to 

 a great depth or lies long. In summer they are 

 found up to a height of eleven thousand feet on 

 all the lakes and branches of the rivers except 

 the smallest, and those beside the glaciers incum- 

 bered with drifting ice and snow. I found mal- 

 lards and wood ducks at Lake Tenaya, June 1, 

 before the ice-covering was half melted, and a 

 flock of young ones in Bloody Canon Lake, June 

 20. They are usually met in pairs, never in large 

 flocks. No place is too wild or rocky or solitary 

 for these brave swimmers, no stream too rapid. 

 In the roaring, resounding canon torrents, they 

 seem as much at home as in the tranquil reaches 

 and lakes of the broad glacial valleys. Aban- 

 doning themselves to the wild play of the waters, 

 they go drifting confidingly through blinding, 

 thrashing spray, dancing on boulder-dashed 

 waves, tossing in beautiful security on rougher 

 water than is usually encountered by sea birds 

 when storms are blowing. 



