A POT-HUNTER'S DEFIANCE 53 



**Kiiowin' ducks !" the pot-hunter exploded, fall- 

 ing in with the lad's ingenious leading, ''most of 

 'em couldn't tell a Goose from a Pintail! That 

 day, when I told one 0' the 'sportsmen' that the 

 bird he was lookin' at was a Groosander, he says, in 

 an irritatin' way, 



'' 'You're wrong, my man, I never heard of such 

 a bird!' 



" 'His man!' " the pot-hunter bellowed, "when 

 I could have doubled him up an ' rammed him down 

 the barrel of his own gun!" 



Storm signs were in the air again and Shan 

 hastily turned back to the question of the birds 

 themselves, feeling it safer. 



"The Goosander's one of the Mergansers, isn't 

 it ? " he asked, as he put the plucked ducks in the 

 oven, and added a stick of wood to the fire. 



"Sure it's a Merganser, the big kind. I've 

 never tried to shoot a Goosander drake but I've 

 seen a right smart few of 'em. They're easy to 

 tell, beetle-green neck, black back, white wings an' 

 salmon-colored breast, but they're not easy to hit, 

 I'm told. They swim deep, so there ain't much 

 to shoot at, an' they dive at the snap o' the trig- 

 ger, like a Loon. There's a smaller Merganser, 

 with a red breast, I've brought down a few times, 



