Merganser. 39 



fellow — I shot the canoe forward, almost up to him. 

 He tried to dive ; got tangled in a lily stem in his 

 fright ; canie up, flashed under again ; and I saw him 

 come up ten feet away in some grass, where he sat 

 motionless and almost invisible amid the pads and 

 yellow stems. 



How frightened he was ! Yet how still he sat ! 

 Whenever I took my eyes from him a moment I 

 had to hunt again, sometimes two or three minutes, 

 before I could see him there. 



Meanwhile the brood went almost to the opposite 

 shore before they stopped, and the mother, satisfied 

 at last by my quietness, flew over and lit among them. 

 She had not seen the little one. Throucrh the class 

 I saw her flutter round and round them to be quite 

 sure they were all there. Then she missed him. I 

 could see it all in her movements. She must have 

 clucked, I think, for the young suddenly disappeared, 

 and she came swimming rapidly back over the way 

 they had come, looking, looking evervwhere. Round 

 the canoe she went at a safe distance, searching 

 among the grass and HI}' pads, calling him softly to 

 come out. But he was \'ery near the canoe, and very 

 much frightened ; the only effect of her calls was 

 to make him crouch closer against the grass stems, 

 while the bright little eyes, grown large with fear, 

 were fastened on me. 



