304 ' AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



when their occupants are busily at work with their wea- 

 pons, it requires no great stretch of the imagination to 

 compare them to miniature war ships engaged in battle. 

 The ducks are picked up as fast as they are shot, unless 

 the firing is so brisk that it would be a waste of time to 

 go after single birds. Some of the ducks fly a quarter oi 

 a mile perha^js, after being hard hit, and then fall life- 

 less; hence many escape the bag of the sportsman. Others, 

 when wounded, dive to the bottom of the bay, and taking 

 hold of some weeds with their bills, cling to them until 

 they are dead. These generally come to the surface when 

 the warmth has left the body, as the muscles then relax 

 their hold. 



Old squaws, or musical ducks as they are generally 

 called, on account of their melodious cry, which may be 

 expressed by the notes E. G. C. E. on the treble cleff of 

 a piano, are considered excellent shooting, as they fly fast 

 and are hard to kill. The fishermen say that these 

 birds are regular members of a duck opera troupe; tliat 

 their song is " He's got no gun," and that they never 

 vary it. Their four notes might certainly exjiress this 

 idea, for they are unusually noisy and bold when they see 

 a person passing them on shore without that deadly 

 weapon in his hands; whereas the sight of it causes them 

 to hasten away immediately if they have been shot at 

 much. ^Talk of instinct in birds! If they do not reason 

 on cause and effect after a few lessons in the science of 

 gunnery, then I make a mistake. Shooting sea ducks, 

 excei)t for their feathers, is not very profitable, as their 

 flesh has so fishy a taste as to be almost uneatable. Some 

 persons, however, manage to eat them and apparently to 

 enjoy them. Among the methods recommended for mak- 

 ing them palatable, one is to put an onion or two inside 

 each bird, then place it over the fire in a j)ot of cold water, 

 until the water is nearly ready to boil. It should then 

 be taken out and roasted as ordinary ducks are. If 



