378 FEATHERED GAME 



slowly 'round and 'round in a vain effort to get 

 under, and a couple more with better success 

 diving to the depths and swimming below the 

 surface for dear life. There is small hope of 

 their capture, yet if they come up within shot 

 let them have it, for a stray pellet might stop 

 them and we want to leave no poor cripples 

 here to suffer and starve. 



Perhaps when you have shot your wounded 

 Sea Duck three or four times over you dis- 

 cover that he will stand a whole lot of killing, 

 and that he will carry off ballast enough to sink 

 most birds. He is one of those hard-headed, 

 gritty fellows who never admit the fact even 

 when they have been killed, and the thick coat 

 of down and feathers, backed up by the sturdy 

 muscles beneath, makes a very good suit of ar- 

 mor over his vitals. Head on, unless a shot 

 enters the neck or brain, you may as well snap 

 your fingers at him as waste ammunition, — 

 that, too, when you are using number one or 

 two for shot. Many use as heavy as BB. 



Away in the distance, wherever you look 

 there is some scurrying flock of seafowl: 

 swift-flying ''old-squaws" with a continual 

 ''gabbling," — shelldrakes driving past in rush- 



