Among the Water Fowl 



of a pack of hounds on the trail, — and music indeed 

 it is. Presently a line of fowl will appear, sweeping 

 down the channel. They do not always seem to 

 notice the boat, and I have often had them double 

 right by the bow when I sat up to shoot. I think 

 that there is no swifter flier among birds than this 

 garrulous "Squaw," and if one is to hit such a 

 mark very often, he must be an adept. Going at 

 such tremendous velocity, when one is brought 

 down, I have been amazed at the distance that its 

 momentum will carry it, ricochetting over the water, 

 before it can stop. They appear to rest on the open 

 sea at night, where they are quite safe from moles- 

 tation. On cold, still days they sit in flocks on the 

 water and their chatter, which often seems to re- 

 solve itself into major thirds, is to me one of the 

 finest sounds of Arctic-like nature at this season. 



The Golden-eyes also feed in the bays, and, hid- 

 den in a seaweed "blind," one can toll them up 

 with wooden decoys, and have good sport. As 

 spring approaches, the Sheldrakes, or Mergansers, 

 especially the Reb-dreasted, become more numer- 

 ous, — the males now splendid with their green- 

 crested head-dress,— and come readily to the decoys. 

 The little Buffle-head — Teal -like — skims over the 

 bays and dodges the hunter by swimming under 

 ice-fields, coming up beyond. I learned this lesson 

 once when I had a flock cornered in such a way 

 that I thought they could not escape when they 

 undertook to dive. I waited and waited, and pres- 

 ently saw them away ofY in another lane of water. 



When the bays are frozen over all but a narrow 

 channel, the fishermen turn from fish to fowling, 



220 



