m THE WILD RICE FIELDS. 365 



powderless "tenderfoot," while his ears were stunned 

 with the whizz and rush of wings all around his head, 

 with the thump and bustle and splash of ducks alight- 

 ing in the water before him, the squeal of wood ducks, 

 the quack of mallards, the whistle of widgeon, the 

 scape of traveling snipe, the grating squawk of herons, 

 egrets and bitterns, the honk-honk of geese, the clank- 

 a-lank of brant, and the dolorous grrrroooo of the far- 

 off sandhill cranes. 



Such was the effect that these myriads of birds had 

 on the young fellow, inexperienced in duck shooting, 

 who was then first introduced to the sport; yet it was 

 but a short time before he became as skillful in stop- 

 ping the on-rushing birds as those who had been at it 

 much longer, and these are some of the pictures that 

 he paints of his autumn spent along the Illinois River : 



Though ducks in the West do not come to decoys 

 in the autumn as well as they do in the spring, there 

 are still many days when they come quite well, espe- 

 cially wood ducks, teal and bluebills. Many a time 

 during the middle of the day we pulled the boat into a 

 blind of reeds and willows, and set out decoys in the 

 open water a few yards outside the brush, and many a 

 time did I have to drop the roasted snipe or pumpkin 

 pie and snatch up a gun as the air began to sing be- 

 neath descending wings. And many a time, when 

 yielding to the soporific influence of a heavy lunch on a 

 soft Indian summer day, did I suddenly start from the 



