POINT SHOOTING. 399 



feathers creaking against each other as he threw him- 

 self nearly over on his back and scrambled through the 

 air to get away. 



It surprises one — though, of course, it is only natural 

 — to see how many birds there are, which are not wild- 

 fowl, that come close to the blind entirely unsuspicious 

 of its occupant. Hawks and sometimes, during gray 

 days, owls hunt over the marsh, eager to prey on the 

 blackbirds and sparrows whose haunt is here. Gulls 

 often pass near the decoys, and occasionally one sees 

 flying through the air a loon or a cormorant. Some- 

 times one of the latter may be seen perched over the 

 water on a stake of some deserted bush blind. Eagles 

 and buzzards, of course, and the ever-present crow, are 

 constantly searching over the marsh and over the 

 water, looking for dead and wounded ducks. 



From the many ducks and geese that are so lost to 

 the gunner the eagles and the buzzards no doubt gain 

 a fat livelihood, and the clean-picked skeletons of wild- 

 fowl surrounded by the feathers are frequently seen in 

 the marshes. 



Besides these, in and among the reeds live blackbirds, 

 sparrows, marsh wrens and rails, any of which will 

 venture close to the blind. Sometimes a little Carolina 

 rail in its peregrinations along the water's edge will 

 even walk into the blind and gaze at its occupant with 

 bright, dark eye, uncertain what he may be. It is 

 amusing sometimes to see two or three men and a dog 

 go crashing through the cane in hot pursuit of one 

 of these little birds, who must laugh to himself at 



