292 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTIJSTG. 



destruction is the '^niglit reflector/' which consists of a 

 large reflector placed behind a naptha lamp, and mounted 

 on the bow of a boat. The pot-hunters who use this row 

 out into the stream where the ducks are bedded for the 

 night, and the poor creatures, becoming fascinated by its 

 glare, swim towards it from every direction, and strike 

 against the boat in their efforts to come as near it as they 

 can. When they are massed together the pot-liunters 

 open fire upon them, and keep it up until they have flown 

 beyond range. The number slaughtered depends, of 

 course, on the calibre of the weapon used, but from 

 twenty to forty per round is an ordinary l)ag. These 

 men may succeed in getting into a dozen beds during the 

 night, so the havoc they commit may be readily inferred. 

 I have heard that two of them killed fifteen hundred be- 

 tween the hours of seven P. M. and three A. M. with 

 four guns, while the largest number I ever heard of being 

 killed from sneak-boxes during the day by two men, 

 armed with six guns, was five hundred and sixteen. This 

 wholesale system of assassination is, of course, execrated 

 by sportsmen, and even by those who liberally supply 

 themselves and their neighbors with wild-fowl. Many do 

 not hesitate to express their feelings about it in the most 

 forcible manner, when they have an opportunity, by 

 planting a load of shot in- the body of the nefarious "fire- 

 hunter." Shooting from blinds is considered legitimate 

 sport, and when the ducks are abundant a person ought 

 to have all the amusement he wants behind these. The 

 canvas-backs are shot over decoys, which are often placed 

 on their feeding grounds, the sportsmen being under 

 cover; but on streams and lakes they are frequently 

 sculled or sailed upon in flat boats, covered with reeds or 

 bushes, and fired upon as they rise. 



Like the remainder of the family, the canvas-backs are 

 more restless and active in wet or murky than m fine 

 weather, and it is at such times that the largest bags are 



