138 Wilderness Ways. 



muskrat ; but she did not know who did it, for Musquash 

 knows how to roll the eggs into water and carry them 

 off, before eating, where the mother bird will not find 

 the shells. She came swimming down to meet us the 

 moment our canoe entered the lake; and what she 

 seemed to cry was, " Where are they ? O where are 

 they ? " She followed us across the lake, accusing us 

 of robbery, and asking the same question over and over. 

 But whatever the meaning of Hukweem's crying, 

 it seems to constitute a large part of his existence. 

 Indeed, it is as a cry that he is chiefly known — the 

 wild, unearthly cry of the wilderness night. His 

 education for this begins very early. Once I was 

 exploring the grassy shores of a wild lake when a 

 mother loon appeared suddenly, out in the middle, 

 with a great splashing and crying. I paddled out to 

 see what was the matter. She withdrew with a great 

 effort, apparently, as I approached, still crying loudly 

 and beating the water with her wings. " Oho," I said, 

 " you have a nest in there somewhere, and now you are 

 trying to get me away from it." This was the only time 

 I have ever known a loon to try that old mother bird's 

 trick. Generally they slip off the nest while the canoe 

 is yet half a mile away, and swim under water a long 

 distance, and watch you silently from the other side of 

 the lake. 



