MID-DAY MALLARD SHOOTING FALL. 157 



Watch this old fool of a duck coming, and see me 

 " raise her." Quack ! Quiet, Jack. Bang ! What 

 a cloud of feathers ! Fetch her, Jack. Well, well. 

 As Joe Carroll used to say, you'd think she'd 

 been shot with a threshing-machine ; she feels like 

 a big sponge. 'Twill make good hash for some 

 Chicago boarding-house. Did you notice when I 

 called her, how quick she dropped her wings ? I 

 like " calling by mouth " much better than with 

 a " squawker," especially if the ducks are passing 

 reasonably close. I will try and explain to you 

 though, how to make a squawker, if the ducks will 

 only keep away long enough. 



First a tube of wood or metal (bamboo cane 

 is chiefly used) is to be provided, about three- 

 quarters of an inch inside diameter, and from 

 four to eight inches long ; a plug about three 

 inches long is fitted to one end, and after being 

 split in two, one-half is grooved to within a 

 quarter of an inch of its smaller end, the groove 

 being perhaps a quarter of an inch wide and 

 of the same depth. The tongue is simply a very 

 thin piece of sheet copper or brass, which should 

 be hammered to increase its elasticity ; it should 

 be about two and a half inches long and from 

 three-eighths to half an inch wide. At one end. 



