POINT SHOOTING. 39 1 



encouraging, however, and regaled me with anecdotes 

 of the numbers of birds that certain men whom he had 

 accompanied had killed in the afternoon ; and especially 

 of one who only a few weeks before, after a day of very 

 bad luck, had in an hour's shooting just before sunset 

 run his score up to over thirty. I anticipated no such 

 good luck, but I determined to endeavor to use greater 

 care in shooting; to take my birds earlier, to hold 

 further ahead of them, and not to shoot unless I felt 

 reasonably sure that I was holding on each bird about 

 as I thought I ought to. 



Meditating thus, I was watching the sky to the south 

 and east, when suddenly I heard from John the grating 

 call of the canvas-back, followed by several loud honks, 

 and sitting down I strained my eyes to see where the 

 birds were to which he was calling. Peering through 

 the stalks of the cane. I presently saw off to the right 

 a single canvas-back coming with the steady flight that 

 distinguishes these birds from almost any other ducks. 

 He was an old male, white and handsome, and was 

 headed straight for the decoys. John continued to call, 

 and the bird had evidently made up his mind to come. 

 We had a few canvas-back decoys out. and these with 

 the geese were more likely to bring him ; for, as is well 

 known, canvas-backs will stool to geese as well as they 

 will to their own kind. He came on swiftly and stead- 

 ily, and at length, just as he was over the tail decoys. I 

 arose, held about 2 feet in front of his bill and fired, 

 and the noble bird fell. He had hardly struck the water 

 before Gunner had plunged in. swam through the de- 



