roam and gad about, free from care, and 

 happy as summer campers, leaving the mother 

 birds, meanwhile, to feed and educate their 

 offspring. Once only have I seen a drake 

 sharing in the responsibilities of his family. 

 I watched three days to find the cause of 

 his devotion; but he disappeared the third 

 evening, and I never saw him again. Whether 

 the drakes are lazy and run away, or whether 

 they have the atrocious habit of many male 

 birds and animals of destroying their young, 

 and so are driven away by the females, I 

 have not been able to find out. 



These birds are very destructive on the 

 trout streams. If a summer camper spare 

 them, it is because of his interest in the 

 young, and especially because of the mother 

 bird's devotion. When the recreant drake is 

 met with, however, he goes promptly upon 

 the bill of fare with other good things. 



Occasionally one overtakes a brood on a 

 rapid river. Then the poor birds are dis- 

 tressed indeed. At the first glimpse of the 

 canoe they are off, churning the water into 

 foam in their flight. Not till they are out of 



203 



^(jfaseekho 



