296 DUCK SHOOTING. 



greater satisfaction, or better rewards the energy and 

 skill of the sportsman. The birds are large, weighing 

 three and a half pounds, numerous, and, gastronomi- 

 cally, have no superiors. They are not distributed uni- 

 versally along the Atlantic shores, as are Canada geese, 

 black duck, coot and other aquatic birds. At the east- 

 erly end of Massachusetts is the nice, old-fashioned 

 town of Chatham, and some three miles away to the 

 southward of this is the island of Monomoy, a mere 

 belt of sand running still further southward six miles. 



Facing eastward from Monomoy, one sees the broad 

 Atlantic, where "they on the trading flood ply, stem- 

 ming nightly toward the pole." It is no uncommon oc- 

 currence for a fleet of a hundred sail to be seen at an- 

 chor or struggling against wind or tide to reach a port, 

 and many a gallant ship has been wrested from her 

 course by the storm king and tossed upon the beach as 

 a mere toy. After an easterly gale, one of the objects 

 of intense interest to tourists is the matchless grandeur 

 of the spectacle of "hills of sea, Olympus high" that 

 dash themselves in thunder upon this sand-bar, again 

 and again to be absorbed in the bosom of the refluent 

 wave. On the westerly side of the island, stretching up 

 and down some miles, is what is called "Chatham Great 

 Flats," over which the water flows, varying from two 

 feet to almost nothing, according as it is full or neap 

 tide. 



Adjoining these flats, on the southerly or westerly 

 side, is deep, blue water, where grows an immense 

 quantity of common eel grass (Zostera marina), upon 



