Merganser. 37 



Of all the broods I have met in the wilderness, only 

 one, I think, ever grew to recognize me and my canoe 

 a bit, so as to fear me less than another. It was on a 

 little lake in the heart of the woods, where we lingered 

 long on our journey, influenced partly by the beauty 

 of the place, and partly by the fact that two or three 

 bears roamed about there, whicli I sometimes met at 

 twilight on the lake shore. The brood were as wild 

 as other broods ; but I met them often, and they 

 sometimes found the canoe lying motionless and 

 harmless near them, without quite knowing how it 

 came there. So after a few days they looked at mc 

 with curiosity and uneasiness only, unless I came too 

 near. 



There were six in the brood. Five were hardy 

 little fellows that made the water boil behind them 

 as they scurried across the lake. But the sixth was a 

 weakling. He had been hurt, by a hawk perhaps, or 

 a big trout, or a mink ; or he had swallowed a bone ; 

 or maybe he was just a weak little fellow with no 

 accounting for it. Whenever the brood were startled, 

 he struggled bravely a little while to keep up; then 

 he always fell behind. The mother would come back, 

 and urge, and help him ; but it was of little use. He 

 was not strong enough ; and the last glimpse I always 

 had of them was a foamy wake disappearing round a 

 distant point, while far in the rear was a ripple where 



