a kiss on his thin cheek,

"That is a sweet little story, dear, and you remembered it wonderfully
well. I shall write and tell your mother all about it;" and Dick sat
on her knee, contentedly smiling at the praise, and resolving to watch
well, and catch the dragonfly in the act of leaving its old body for
the new, and see how he did it. Dolly had a few remarks to make upon
the "Duck," and made them in a sing-song tone, for he had learned it by
heart, and thought it a great plague to do it at all.

"Wild ducks are hard to kill; men hide and shoot at them, and have tame
ducks to quack and make the wild ones come where the men can fire at
them. They have wooden ducks made too, and they sail round, and the
wild ones come to see them; they are stupid, I think. Our ducks are very
tame. They eat a great deal, and go poking round in the mud and water.
They don't take good care of their eggs, but them spoil, and--"

"Mine don't!" cried Tommy.

"Well, some people's do; Silas said so. Hens take good care of little
ducks, only they don't like to have them go in the water, and make a
great fuss. But the little ones don't care a bit. I like to eat ducks
with stuffing in them and lots of apple-sauce."

"I have something to say about owls," began Nat, who had carefully
prepared a paper upon this subject with some help from Dan.

"Owls have big heads, round eyes, hooked bills, and strong claws. Some
are gray, some white, some black and yellowish. Their feathers are very
soft, and stick out a great deal. They fly very quietly, and hunt bats,
mice, little birds, and such things. They build nests in barns, hollow
trees, and some take the nests of other birds. The great horned owl has
two eggs bigger than a hen's and reddish brown. The tawny owl has
five eggs, white and smooth; and this is the kind that hoots at night.
Another kind sounds like a child crying. They eat mice and bats whole,
and the parts that they cannot digest they make into little balls and
spit out."

"My gracious! how funny!" Nan was heard to observe.

"They cannot see by day; and if they get out into the light, they go
flapping round half blind, and the other birds chase and peck at them,
as if they were making fun. The horned owl is very big, 'most as big as
the eagle. It eats rabbits, rats, snakes, and birds; and lives in rocks
and old tumble-down houses. They have a good many cries, and scream like
a person being choked, and say, 'Waugh O! waugh O!' and it sc