128 



THE BROOK BOOK 



much better able to shift for himself than his little 

 cousin. In the first place, he is bigger and has a 

 sharp beak with a malignant drop of poison within 

 easy reach. His garb, too, is more pronounced, 

 resembling in some cases a tailor-made suit of 

 white velvet, with facings of gray, and sometimes 

 a touch of red. The water-boatman is modest in 

 behavior and dress, and lacks the general air of 

 savoir faire possessed by the back-swimmer. The 

 two are easily distinguished by the difference in 

 form as well as by size and color, the boatman's 



back being flat, while 

 that of the back-swim- 

 mer is shaped like the 

 bottom of a boat. 



There is no employ- 

 ment more enjoyable to 

 me than watching the 

 back -swimmers in our 

 Meadow Brook. I have 

 found them also in the 

 large open tank in the 

 barn-yard, and used to 

 wonder how they came' 

 there. Surely they did 

 not come out of the 

 PULLING deep well from which 

 a windmill forces the 

 water to this tank? When watching them one 

 day in the tank I was surprised to see one leap 

 through the resisting surface film of the water and 

 suddenly, spread wings and disappear in the direc- 



THE BACK-SWIMMER 

 A STROKE 



