296 LEAVIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



and are almost constantly on the wing in quest of suitable spots 

 to dive down for the still tender roots of the valisineria. 



At this juncture, a cruel advantage is taken of the half-starved 

 condition of the poor canvas-backs to entice them within the reach 

 of the murderous guns of those who lie in ambuscade upon the 

 shores of the Gunpowder, Bush, Elk, and the many other smaller 

 streams which are now frozen over. A large hole of many feet in 

 diameter is cut in the ice directly over some choice feeding-shoal, 

 sufficiently near, however, to the land to allow of its being raked 

 by the guns of those concealed behind a blind erected on the 

 shore. Large numbers of wild fowl, more particularly the canvas- 

 backs, may be killed in this way, and the shooter can lie still and 

 bang away at the ducks all day long, as they will oftentimes con- 

 tinue coming and going as fast almost as he can load, provided 

 they are driven to the extremity we have mentioned above. These 

 seasons of scarcity are not by any means unusual ; and a friend 

 of the author informs him that he has killed as many as one 

 hundred and fifty canvas-backs over one of these feeding-holes in 

 one day on the Gunpowder River. 



POINT-SHOOTING. 



Several of the above plans of shooting ducks may be said to be 

 illegitimate ways of sporting, although pursued indiscriminately 

 by all those of our friends who participate in wild-fowl shooting. 

 The really sportsmanlike way of killing canvas-backs, however, is 

 for the shooter to station himself on some one of the many points 

 or bars along the bay-shore or its tributaries that the ducks fly 

 over in their course to and from their feeding-grounds. Much 

 depends, in this kind of shooting, upon the disposition of the ele- 

 ments; for neither pleasure nor success can be reasonably ex- 

 pected if the weather is intensely cold or the wind blowing fresh 

 from a quarter that carries the ducks off from the point rather 

 than on it. 



On the other hand, if the wind and weather prove favorable 

 and the ducks are flying briskly, there is not a more delightful way 



