DAYS AMONG THE DUCKS, 99 



underestimating the speed of a duck, and conse- 

 quently the distance necessary to hold ahead of 

 it. Where I whirled the gun in from behind, as 

 on the first two ducks, I generally hit it, for the* 

 motion of the line of sight is faster than that of 

 the birds. The line of fire is ahead of where it 

 actually seems, on account of the time lost in 

 pulling the trigger and the escape of the shot, 

 during which the muzzle of the gun is moving 

 past the line of the game. But it took me long 

 to hold far enough ahead, as well as to learn that 

 I w^as using too much shot and too little powder 

 for birds as tough as ducks. 



As Phoebus entered the home-stretch and his 

 glowing chariot neared the gate of gilded clouds, 

 the number of ducks increased by the minute. 

 Most of those hitherto flying were ducks spend- 

 ing the day in the adjacent sloughs and ponds. 

 But now the host that had been feeding in the 

 great cornfields of the prairie began to pour into 

 roost, while the vast army of wdld fowl bound 

 farther south came marching down the sky. 

 Long lines came widening out and sliding down, 

 and out of the horizon rose dense bunches, hang- 

 ing for a moment in the rosy sky then bearing 



