JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



51 



the shore was too level to approach 

 them in this way, he would take ad- 

 vantage of them, while they were 

 feeding at he bottom, to run the de- 

 sired distance and await their return 

 to the surface. Crouching as near to 

 the rocks as possible he waited until 

 they all reappeared. At that moment, 

 if none of the ducks had become aware 

 of his presence, they would all head 

 away from the shore, drawing into a 

 narrow, compact line. This line was 

 the opportunity for which the gunner 

 had waited, and he then discharged 

 his gun which strewed the water with 

 dead and wounded ducks. 



This continual persecution caused 

 the ducks to gradually retreat to feed- 

 ing grounds farther from the shore, 

 which did not offer such opportunities 

 as already mentioned to approach 

 within shooting distance. In some lo- 

 calities ducks were salted for future 

 use, especially the Eider (Somateria 

 dresseri), and when wanted were 

 soaked out in water until fresh enough 

 to be eaten. As the ducks became more 

 wary and less numbers could be ob- 

 tained, necessity, sometimes, but gen- 

 erally pleasure, demanded more birds; 

 then some more enterprising gunner 

 discovered this desire could be satis- 

 fied by using wooden decoys, painted 

 to represent the species wanted. 



From the time since the percussion 

 cap was introduced, improvements on 

 the shot gun moved steadily forward; 

 and about the time the advantage of 

 decoys was known, an extra barrel on 

 the gun appeared. With these agents 

 combined, a more rapid decrease in the 

 already diminished flocks was assured. 

 About this time the amount of sport 

 to be had with these species became 

 known to inland guners or sportsmen, 

 as they were called, and many of them 

 soon reached the Eldorado with the 

 most modern weapons of that time for 

 bird destruction. 



Up to this period in their history I 

 am dependent for instruction on the 



old gunners who took an active part 

 in the drama; from that time to the 

 present I depend on my own observa- 

 tions. 



When I was old enough to enter the 

 drama, which only required the abil- 

 ity already named, I at once took an 

 active part, and many a day have I 

 staggered along with a gun, which to 

 think of now, almost causes my knees 

 to bend. Could the boys on the coast 

 at th-it time have had the Ornitho^ 

 logical influence and encouragement 

 we now have, the disposition to pro- 

 tect, instead of to destroy, might have 

 prevailed; and the knowledge of the 

 habits of these birds which could have 

 been obtained can not well be over- 

 estimated. Nor is this all. Where to- 

 day miles and miles of our coast line 

 and rivers do not afford a single speci- 

 men of many species, energetic influ- 

 ence at that time might have caused 

 laws to have been enacted by our 

 legislature, the benefit of which would 

 liave been manifested by a few of 

 these species in their natural haunts 

 today, whereas now nothing but si- 

 lence remains. By that time the muz- 

 zle loading gun was fast approaching 

 its perfection, but as they were expen- 

 sive the gunners or fishermen had to 

 be content with the out of date ones, 

 a miscellaneous assortment known as 

 King-arm, Queen-arm, and one more 

 modern, known as the Springfield, 

 which used a diving bell for a ham- 

 mer, and a keg hat for a cap. 



I well remember my first experience 

 witli one of those old guns. It was an 

 old Queen's-arm owned by my grand- 

 father, which, from long service had 

 become what was known as britch 

 burnt, and when discharged caused a 

 recoil that was something to be re- 

 membered. 



For this I'eason it had not been used 

 for a number of years. At that time I 

 was nine years of age, and my brother 

 was seven, and to fire a gun was our 

 gi-eatest desire; but owing to the so- 



