WILD DUCK. 61 
In May the female produces a single lamb, over whose 
welfare the mother shows great solicitude. The young, 
until three or four weeks old, are unable to follow the par- 
ent, but are hid away in the manner usual with deer; the 
old lady, however, on such occasions never wanders far from 
her offspring’s hiding-place, and on the least suspicion of 
danger rushes to her offspring, prepared to do battle with 
all intruders, whatever may be their size or appearance. 
The droppings of these animals, with the exception of their 
size, exactly resemble those of sheep. 
I will relate two anecdotes illustrative of the chances of 
accident that will occasionally occur to the sportsman, even 
when in pursuit of animals which are generally deemed 
harmless; and clearly proving how necessary presence of 
mind and decision of character are to the person who 
adopts wild life, or hopes to return safely from a trip to 
the comparatively unknown tracks of the great north-west- 
ern portion of the American continent. 
“The ice had just disappeared from the rivers; the wild 
duck had already arrived in immense numbers, so that our 
table daily had been graced with the choicest varieties, 
when a thought struck me that an alteration of fish for 
fowl would be most acceptable to the palates of the en- 
campment. About a couple of miles distant, where the. 
river, contracted to one-fourth its usual breadth, rushed 
into a noble pool, I had on the previous year been most 
successful ; moreover, it was a pleasant place to fish—no 
overhanging bushes, but gently sloping, gravelly banks 
nearly the entire length of its margin. In an hour I had se- 
cured more trout than I felt disposed to carry; so, work be- 
ing over, I treated myself to a pipe. While enjoying my to- 
bacco, a wading bird, of a description I never before saw, lit 
close to me. It was so tame that I threw several stones at 
it, almost with success, for the distance was not oyer ten or 
