276 DUCK SHOOTING. 



plan of goose hunting on the Roanoke River. There 

 is no crawHng through mud and briers for a half mile. 

 The geese wait for you to get your breakfast, and din- 

 ner, too, if you want it, before you pay them your re- 

 spects in the manner which I shall presently describe. 

 You just ride along on the bank of the river as you 

 might if you intended going to church or a funeral on 

 a quiet Sunday morning in the country. You try to 

 strike the stream at the lowest part, where the geese 

 frequent, and follow up the water's edge until the geese 

 are sighted, and at some points you can see them for a 

 mile or more. It is always necessary to have two men, 

 and it is better to have a party of three to make a suc- 

 cessful hunt. More than this number overloads a boat, 

 and lends a cheerful prospect of a good ducking in the 

 rapids by standing on a smooth, half-sunken rock. 



We take a boat, usually kept just above or below 

 where we expect to find the geese, and paddle to one of 

 the hundreds of small islands in the river, from six feet 

 in circumference to several acres. We select a small 

 island, dry and full of driftwood, debris of bridges 

 swept away in freshets, and soft grass. We select a 

 small island, because the birds, wary, of the- shore, will 

 not approach so close to a large one as to a small one. 

 Here we are perfectly secreted by bushes and driftwood, 

 not at all cramped in posture, while waiting for a shot. 

 The dry grass or a log gives choice of a seat. The man 

 in the boat, who is to be the driver, then scuds along 

 the bank furthest from the grass, so as not to alarm 

 and put them to flight. As soon as he passes them 



