154 DUCK SHOOTING. 



ing birds to occupy. The splashing of the diving ducks 

 made the water bubble and boil, and the play of the 

 birds as they sometimes chased each other made the 

 scene one of the greatest possible animation. Presently 

 something occurred to attract their attention, and all 

 stretched their necks up into the air and looked. I 

 think I have never seen anything in the way of feath- 

 ered animal life more impressive than this forest of 

 thick necks, crowned by long, shapely heads of rich 

 brown. After their curiosity was satisfied they began 

 again to feed and to play. It is impossible to convey to 

 one who has not witnessed such a sight its interest and 

 fascination. Here within gunshot — and when seen 

 through the glasses appearing within arm's length — 

 were twelve or fifteen hundred of the most desirable 

 duck that flies, entirely at home and living for the 

 benefit of the observers their ordinary winter lives. 



"Looking with the glasses over the smooth ice away 

 to the northward, we could see flying over the ice, or 

 resting on it, fowd as far as the eye could reach. From 

 the level of the ice where we sat, the ducks, resting on 

 the water, appeared only as indistinct lines. The geese 

 were, of course, larger and darker, and made distinct 

 black lines ; while some very distant swans, resting on 

 the ice, were magnified by the illusive effects of the mi- 

 rage, so that they looked like detached white houses. 

 While we sat watching the canvas-backs, two or three 

 small flocks of geese swung around over the air hole, 

 but finding no spot where they might moisten the soles 

 of their feet, they alighted on the ice just beyond it. 



