A Wild Duck. ' 57 



let the whole brood go down to the shore just below 

 his house. The moment they were free the wild 

 birds scurried away into the water-grass out of sight, 

 and no amount of anxious quacking on the part of 

 the mother duck could bring them back into cap- 

 tivity. He never saw them again. 



This habit which the young birds have of skulking 

 away out of sight is a measure of protection that they 

 constantly practise. A brood may be seen on almost 

 any secluded pond or lake in New England, where 

 the birds come in the early spring to build their 

 nests. Watching from some hidden spot on the 

 shore, one sees them diving and swimming about, 

 hunting for food everywhere in the greatest freedom. 

 The next moment they scatter and disappear so sud- 

 denly that one almost rubs his eyes to make sure that 

 the birds are really gone. If he is near enough, which 

 is not likely unless he is very careful, he has heard a 

 low cluck from the old bird, which now sits with neck 

 standing straight up out of the water, so still as to be 

 easily mistaken for one of the old stumps or bogs 

 among which they are feeding. She is looking about 

 to see if the ducklings are all well hidden. After a 

 moment there is another cluck, very much like the 

 other, and downy little fellows come bobbing out of 

 the grass, or from close beside the stumps where you 

 looked a moment before and saw nothing. This is 



