68 Ways of Wood Folk. 



of water-grass. Some of them sat quite up on their 

 tails by a vigorous use of their wings, and stretched 

 their necks to look over the low bank. Just keeping 

 still saved me. In five minutes they were quiet again ; 

 even the young duck seemed to have forgotten her 

 vanity and gone to sleep with the others. 



Two or three hours I lay thus and watched them 

 through the grass, spying very rudely, no doubt, into 

 the seclusion of their home life. As the long shadow 

 of the western hill stretched across the pool till it 

 darkened the eastern bank, the ducks awoke one by 

 one from their nap, and began to stir about in prepa- 

 ration for departure. Soon they were collected at the 

 center of the open water, where they sat for a moment 

 very still, heads up, and ready. If there was any sig- 

 nal given I did not hear it. At the same moment 

 each pair of wings struck the water with a sharp 

 splash, and they shot straight up in that remarkable 

 way of theirs, as if thrown by a strong spring. An 

 instant they seemed to hang motionless in the air 

 high above the water, then they turned and disap- 

 peared swiftly over the eastern hill toward the 

 marshes. 



