2^2 DUCKING DAYS 



We weighed anchor after breakfast, and set off down 

 the coast, following that picturesque inner channel which 

 threads its way behind the sand dunes marking the rim 

 of the Gulf. "We passed through Aransas Pass, where 

 the tarpon are, and saw a Mexican ship pumping out. 

 There, too, we looked through a channel to the Gulf, 

 where the white-caps were dancing and the flying fishes 

 were playing. Below Aransas we found a flat covered 

 with waterfowl. There were great banks of snowy 

 pelicans. All the redheads left were apparently holding 

 a convention at which ways and means were doubtless 

 being discussed to save the species. We first had lunch, 

 and while we ate, a little bunch of bluebills sported in 

 the water beside the yacht. They were as tame as coots, 

 it being quite well understood that they were not what 

 we were after. After lunch we put off for the flat, 

 rigged up our blind around the rowboat, and sent the 

 launch down the bay to stir up the ducks. That was 

 Corpus Bay, eighteen miles across, a blue and beautiful 

 body of water. It was Paradise for a duckshooter. The 

 willet, which we do not have here, but which is a favorite 

 shore bird in the East, continually flew past us with its 

 beautiful plover call and its attractive white-banded 

 spread of wing. 



We had one of our finest shoots that afternoon, quit- 

 ting with thirty. The redhead is called to attract its 

 attention to the decoys. It flies close to the water, and 



