Evening star., 1938-04-07

F1SH?" PETER INQUIRED.
of clumsy that somehow I'm always
surprised to see how successful they
are when they 60 fishing. 1t is funny,
too, to see in what wholly different
ways they fish, yet with equally good
results. Grandpa Brown thinks his
way is best and Grandpa White thinks
his way is best, yet neither ever goes
hungry so far as I have been able to
see. And they need lot of fish, those
big birds do"
/ Il had never thought of the matter
before, but now that you speak of it
I suppose that there is more than one
way to catch fish," said Peter
OF course replied Mrs. Quack.
If you have used your eyes you must
have seen that right here at the Smil-
ing Pool Plunger the Osprey's way of
catching fish is altogether different
from that of LonglegS the Heron"
That's true" replied Peter. Plum
ger comes falling right down out of
the sky splash mot the water. and
when he comes up he most always has
fish in his claws. Old Longlegs
stands around at the edge of the water.
and when he sees little fish near
enough shoots out that long neck of
his and grabs the fish in that long
bill. He uses his bill instead of his
claws to catch fish"
so does Rattles the Kingfsher, only
he plunges. Dippy the Loon lives on
fish and he dives and catches a fish
by swimming faster than it can," said
Mrs. Quack
Peter waited minute to see if Mrs
Quack would get back to the subject
that had so aroused his curiosity. Ap-
parently she had forgotten the matter
or else she was teasing him by saying
nothing
Il suppose" said he at last, that
those Pelicans catch fish in one or
another of the ways we have been
talking about"
"One does and one doesn't" Mrs
Quack replied
do you mean that one has still
another way of catching fish?" Peter
asked.
Mrs. Quack nodded. II mean just
that" said she. Grandpa Brown is
independent. He doesn't want any
help when he goes fishing He flies
along above the water looking down
until he sees flash or lot of fishes
near the surface. Then he up-ends
and straight down he goes, head first.
and hits the water with the greatest
splash you ever heard. I guess that
that big bill Of his with the fish bag
beneath doesn't give the fish much of
chance, for it is seldom that when
he bobs up he hasn't fish in that
fish bag to toss and swallow"
Toss and swallow? What do you
mean by toss and swallow" demanded
Peter, looking perplexed.
Why, when he comes up he sits
on the water, tosses it into the air,
and as it comes down head first he
opens that huge mouth wide, and that
is something to see. He could hardly
fail to catch the fish if he tried, and
down his throat it goes"
And Grandpa White, what about
him?" persisted Peter.
"Oh, Grandpa White likes party
when he goes fishing" said Mrs.
Quack He gets some friends to join
him, and they sit around until they
discover lot of small fish near shore.
Then Grandpa Pelican and his friends
swim out around that school of fishes
and suddenly rush in. beating the
water with their great wings and driv-
ing the fish into shallow water, where
they are scooped up into those handy
fish bags. And that is something to
see, too."
Il wonder" said Peter, why Old
Mother Nature gave the pelicans those
handy fish bags"
I've heard story about that" re-
piled Mrs. Quack
Tell it to me-" begged Peter.
(copyrisht, 1889