Among the Water Fowl 



THEN COMES THE DELICIOUS EXPECTANCY OF THE 

 APPROACH TO THE CLUMP, THE PEERING IN, THE 

 FIRST SIGHT OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE," NEST 

 AND SURROUNDINGS OF THE CANVASBACK 



marsh, the heated, undrinkable alkaline water which 

 imparted no relief in cooling brow or moistening 

 parched tongue, nor the long dark prairie drive, 

 protracted beyond the midnight hour, dispelled that 



enthusiasm. 



Just out from 

 the town was a 

 little slough of a 

 few acres, with 

 the usual border 

 and clumps of 

 rushes, where 

 Ducks and other 

 birds resorted. 

 One morning, as 

 I reached the 

 outer edge of an 

 area of flags, I heard sounds of pattering and chirp- 

 ing. In a moment a brood of eight little downy- 

 Ducks, evidently but a day or two out of the shell, 

 appeared in the open water in a well-ordered line, 

 swimming with all their might. And then, with a 

 rush of despair, came the mother, a Green-winged 

 Teal, to the rescue. She threw herself in the water 

 in front of me and lay there fluttering, as though 

 sorely wounded, swimming a little and then flying 

 up, only to return in a moment to repeat the same 

 performance. Meanwhile the little ones had dis- 

 appeared in the rushes further along, but the little 

 mother desisted not in her protestations till 1 with- 

 drew from the water's edge to inspect some young 

 Pintails, nearly half grown, that were skulking in 

 the grass. We caught one, and my boy-companion 



i88 



