d the three rabbits to some bushes that grew close beside the
water.

"Quack, quack!" she said. "Look in here. What can you see?"

Bunny peeped in under the bushes.

"Oh, oh!" he said, "how pretty they are."

Billy peeped in under the bushes.

"Oh, oh!" he said, "how many there are."

Bobtail peeped in under the bushes.

"Oh, oh!" he said. "That is a very good secret."

Now what do you think the three rabbits saw hidden away under the
bushes?

Perhaps you have guessed Mrs. Duck's secret by this time.

Yes! there was a nest full of eggs,--just the prettiest eggs you ever
saw.

Mrs. Duck was very proud of them.

She let the rabbits look at the eggs for a few minutes.

"Now I must cover my eggs up," she said. "I must keep them warm."

So Mrs. Duck sat down on the nest and cuddled the eggs under her soft
warm wings.

Not one egg could be seen. And Mrs. Duck sat so still that Bunny
thought she had gone to sleep.

III

Every day after that the rabbits went to visit Mrs. Duck.

But they did not tell the secret to any of their friends.

Then, one day, when the rabbits went to visit Mrs. Duck, she would not
get off the nest.

"Quack, quack!" she said. "I can not let you see the eggs to-day. I
you will come to-morrow I will show you what I have in my nest."

So the rabbits hopped away, leaving Mrs. Duck alone on her nest under
the bushes.

The next morning, bright and early, the rabbits hopped along the little
path.

They found Mrs. Duck still sitting in the nest.

They saw some little yellow heads peeping out from under her wings.

"Quack, quack!" she said. "See my ducks. They are the prettiest ducks
you ever saw.

"And they have the brightest eyes in the world."

One little duck wriggled out from under her mother's wing and tried to
stand on her little yellow feet.

But they were not strong yet.

"Come back, come back!" said Mrs. Duck. "You must stay in the nest
until you are strong."

And the little duck wriggled back again under her mother's wing.

"We will come again to see your ducks," said Bunny.

After two or three days the three rabbits went back to see the little
ducks.

There was nothing in the nest under the bushes but a few broken shells.

"Where can the ducks be?" said Bunny.

"Tweet, tweet!" sang the sparrow. "I saw Mrs. Duck and all the little
ducks going to the barn."

"There they are now," sang another sparrow.

Bunny and Bobtail and Billy looked