FOLLOWING THE REDHEADS TO THE GULF COAST 33 



can go by without seeing the blocks unless its attention 

 is attracted to them. If you can make a noise like a 

 redheaded woodpecker getting grubs out of a hollow 

 tree you can swing the redheads in. Our boatman could 

 do it. We couldn't. When we tried it the redheads 

 laughed, swung out and went by on the outside, the red 

 I)olls of the drakes flashing in the sunlight and their 

 black ruffs giving them the appearance of so many wild 

 dandies. 



That night we went out under the tender moon and 

 ran a line for fresh trout. These safely aboard, we 

 reveled in the loveliness of the night, to rest uj( long and :^/ 

 to rest us sweetly. The next day was the South at its 

 best, a dream day in which the air seemed scarcely to 

 stir, in which the cormorants all decided to go some- 

 where north of us to better fishing, and innumerable 

 plover of every sort and kind, ran about on the oyster 

 f-hells and made melodious the air. That day the fishing 

 boats passed us with all sails set and a man at the top 

 of the main mast looking for schools. We enjoyed that 

 day, as any duckshooter can, for love of the great out- 

 doors itself. Ducks were an incident, and they were 

 careful to make themselves incidental. We saw few, 

 and killed fewer. At night we were told about goose 

 shooting at the fresh-water ponds. The goose comes to 

 that coast in abundance^ — Canadas, brant, snow geese — 

 blue geese even. They are not hard to kill. The hunters 

 shoot them with sixes. One can always have a good 



