310 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTIN"G. 



once, I am rather inclined to think it a good one, if the 

 dog is well-broken, keeps silent, and is strongly colored, 

 so that it may be seen some distance away. 



It is nothing unusual for an ordinary shot to kill from 

 fifty to a hundred ducks in a day by flight shooting 

 alone in some parts of the West and Southwest, and, if 

 heavy duck guns are used, perhaps double that number. 

 Instances are also known where, owing to the wildness 

 of the birds, one was not bagged in a day, although the 

 sky was dotted with large " trading " teams, as they 

 took care to keep away from the land. That some ducks 

 have strong vital power is evident from the fact that a 

 party of five men failed to kill one which they fired at 

 simultaneously, in a lake in Minnesota. They brought 

 the bird down, but it had scarcely touched the water ere 

 it began to swim away. This raised such a howl of indigna- 

 tion among the wild-fowlers that one of them jumped into 

 a skiff, and swore he would have that bird, as he did not 

 want it reported that five of them could not kill a consump- 

 tive duck. He paddled after the fugitive, and on approach- 

 ing it lifted the paddle to hit it, but the duck was under 

 before the weapon touched the water. This elicited roars 

 of laughter and a volume of suggestions. One told liiin 

 to jump out of the boat and kick tlie durned duck to 

 death; another wanted him to dive after it; a third sug- 

 gested that he throw salt on its tail, and a fourth, to 

 put pe])per in its nose and let it sneeze its head off. Be- 

 fore either of these suggestions could be carried out, the 

 duck, skiff, and fowler disappeared like lead. This sud- 

 den disappearance caused all to indulge in speculation as 

 to the cause of it, but while each had his own idea, the 

 general impression (for this occasion only) was, that he 

 had committed suicide through chagrin at being outwit- 

 ted by a consumptive duck, or that the duck had turned 

 on him and dragged himself and the skiff under. The 

 party then started to search for him, but being unable to 



