Merganser. 3 1 



sends them all off into the 2;rass to hide. How 

 quickly they have disappeared, leaving never a trace ! 

 But it is only a bear come down from the ridge where 

 he has been sleeping, to find a dead fish perchance for 

 his supper ; and the little brood seem to laugh as 

 another low cluck brings them scurrying back from 

 their hiding places. 



Once, perhaps, comes a real fright, when all their 

 summer's practice is put to the test. An unusual 

 noise is heard ; and round the bend glides a bark 

 canoe with sound of human voices. Away go the 

 brood together, the river behind them foaming like 

 the wake of a tiny steamer as the swift-moving feet 

 lift them almost out of water. Visions of ocean, the 

 guns, falling birds, and the hard winter distract the 

 poor mother. She flutters wildly about the brood, 

 now leading, now bravely facing the monster; now 

 pushing along some weak little loiterer, now flounder- 

 ing near the canoe as if wounded, to attract attention 

 from the young. But they double the point at last, 

 and hide away under the alders. The canoe glides 

 by and makes no effort to find them. Silence is again 

 over the forest. The little brood come back to the 

 shallows, with mother bird fluttering round them to 

 count again and again lest any be missing. The 

 kingfisher comes out of his hole in the bank. The river 

 flows on as before, and peace returns ; and over all is 



