. The story of hedgerow and pond . Pond Life you may depend upon seeing themwith more certainty, and if you takethe trouble to hide and wait, you arecertain of seeing a good many interestingsights. Last spring I spent a whole day atsuch a pond not many miles from Londonin a rough shelter I put together ofwhat boughs and sticks there were tobe found near at hand, sheltered by aspreading larch-tree. It was very cold,for it was February, and there had beena sharp frost the night before, and theedge of the water in front of a big bedof bulrushes which faced my hiding-place had a fringe of ice. I h
. The story of hedgerow and pond . Pond Life you may depend upon seeing themwith more certainty, and if you takethe trouble to hide and wait, you arecertain of seeing a good many interestingsights. Last spring I spent a whole day atsuch a pond not many miles from Londonin a rough shelter I put together ofwhat boughs and sticks there were tobe found near at hand, sheltered by aspreading larch-tree. It was very cold,for it was February, and there had beena sharp frost the night before, and theedge of the water in front of a big bedof bulrushes which faced my hiding-place had a fringe of ice. I hadntbeen there many minutes before a pairof wild ducks flew down and settled onthe water just in front of me. But myshelter of sticks was rather open, and105. Pond Life they soon saw me, and tlew off quackingwith fright. After an interval spent infilling up the open spaces with moresticks and dead leaves, another pairsettled, and though they carefully lookedall round, and seemed rather suspicious,they finally thought it was all right; andafter preening their feathers, they beganto swim about and enjoy were at this time of year in theirbrightest plumage. The drake, ormallard, in particular was a perfectpicture, with his glossy green head andthe white ring round his neck, his brilliantorange feet and mottled grey featherson his flanks and back. After sometime spent in smoothing and cleaninghimself up generally, he actually wentto sleep on the shelf of ice just in frontof me, while his wife stood near himio6
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectwat
