iver.
Harry would have stayed for hours to look at them, but we could not stop
long.

[Illustration]

We next turned down the pathway by the river-side, and soon we came to
the wide marshes, which are only two miles off the sea. There we were
standing under a willow, watching for the fish which were swimming down
the river in little shoals, when we heard a splash on the opposite bank;
it was an otter that had dived into the river, and caught a fish, with
which we saw it climb on to the bank again. Men used to hunt the otter
with dogs and spears; and sometimes otters have been trained to catch
fish and bring them to land, but we do not often find them in England.

[Illustration]

As we walked on by the river-side, we noticed a hawk flying swiftly over
us; afterwards we saw him balance himself on his wings, and keep for
many minutes in exactly the same place. Presently, with a loud scream,
he darted down into some rushes a little way before us, and then we
heard a most furious quacking, as if there were fifty ducks there. We
ran on and saw a drake flying at the hawk and pecking at its wings, and
the duck, quacking in the utmost alarm, tried to get all her little
ducklings under her wings; but, alas! one little truant ran into the
weeds, and the hawk caught it in his claws, and, in spite of all the
efforts of the poor drake, flew away with it.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Harry was greatly excited at this scene, and cried to see the hawk carry
away the poor little duck; but he soon laughed again, for as he watched
the robber in his flight through the air, he saw a number of little
birds fly after him,--sparrows, swallows, finches, all chirping at him
and mocking him; then a tribe of bigger birds, blackbirds, magpies,
rooks, and jays, flew after him also; and as the hawk could not fly fast
with the duckling in his claws, they soon overtook him, and we saw them
peck at his wings and his tail, and pull his feathers out; and they all
screamed and chattered at him till at last the hawk let the poor
duckling down into the marsh, and then, rising much higher than the
other birds, flew away so quickly that he was out of sight in a minute.
Harry clapped his hands with delight to see the hawk thus treated, and
said that he was rightly served.

[Illustration]

Now we walked on again by the river-side. The swallows skimmed along
the surface of the water, and caught the insects that hovered over it,
and now and then a