f Wild Geese coming down from the North,
and they often rest on the mill pond; or a Loon may chance down the
river, and a Grebe or two."

"Are Geese Ducks?" asked Dodo, and then laughed with the others at the
question.

"Not precisely--no more than rats are mice," said the Doctor; "but both
Ducks and Geese belong to the same family."

"And what are the others--the Loons and Grubs--are they wading or
swimming birds?" "_Grebes,_ not grubs," laughed the Doctor. "Loons and
Grebes are swimming birds, like Ducks or Gulls, but both belong to quite
a different order from any of the others and each of them belongs to a
family of its own. They can barely move at all on land, and spend all
their lives on the water, excepting in the nesting season, when they
make curious floating nests of dead herbage in reedy marshes. Their logs
are placed in such a backward position that they can sit upright in the
water and swim as if they were walking, only keeping the tip of the bill
above the surface."

"How can they get away if any one hunts them?" asked Rap.

"They can dive at the flash of a gun and swim long distances under
water. Our familiar Pied-billed Grebe or Dabchick disappears so
suddenly, that 'Water Witch' is one of its common names."

"What a lot of birds there are to watch for this fall!" said Nat very
anxiously. "I only wish I knew how much more time we shall have before
father and mother come for us."

[Illustration: Loon.]

"Why, there is one of the men from the Farm with a team," said Rap, as
they tacked close to the beach half an hour later. "He is waving a
letter or something, I think."

It did not take the party long to land, or the Doctor to read his
letter, which said that Nat's and Dodo's parents were coming to the Farm
in a couple of days.

"So we must go home to-morrow," said the Doctor.

"I want to see mother awfully much," said Dodo, "and father too; but
don't you think if you told them bird stories, Uncle Roy, you might be
able to coax them to make you a long visit before they take us home?"

"_I_ think father would rather go up to the logging camp, and see the
coons that Rap says they catch there in the fall; there are red foxes,
too, he says, and little fur beasts."

The Doctor did not give them a very satisfactory answer; but if they had
looked they would have seen a merry twinkle in his eye. And Dodo, who
had learned not to tease during her happy summer, nestled up to Olive
and said, "I smell