life. It is so rare to see a wild thing uncon- 

 scious. 



Then Kwaseekho came into the shallow 

 bay again with her brood, and immediately 

 they began dipping as before. I wondered 

 how the mother made them dive, till I looked 

 through the field-glass and saw that the little 

 fellows occasionally brought up something to 

 eat. But there certainly were no fish to be 

 caught in that warm, shallow water. An 

 idea struck me, and I pushed the canoe out 

 of the grass, sending the brood across the 

 lake in wild confusion. There on the black 

 bottom were a dozen young trout, all freshly 

 caught, and all with the air-bladder punc- 

 tured by the mother bird's sharp bill. She 

 had provided their dinner, but she brought 

 it to a good place and made them dive to 

 get it. 



As I paddled back to camp, I thought of 

 the way the Indians taught their boys to 

 shoot. They hung their dinner from the 

 trees, out of reach, and made them cut the 

 cord that held it, with an arrow. Did 

 the Indians originate this, I wonder, in their 



207 



'^uaseekho 



