POINT SHOOTING. 403 



hybrid which was manifestly a cross between the mal- 

 lard and the pintail, and have seen more than one hy- 

 brid between the black duck and the mallard. 



I have heard of two or three strangers from Europe 

 having been killed in these waters. These were Eng- 

 lish widgeons, usually found associated with the 

 American bird, and recognized as something strange 

 only after they had been killed and retrieved. 



An abundant bird on the waters of Currituck Sound 

 is that locally known as the hairy crown. This is the 

 bird called in the books the hooded merganser. I have 

 never seen these birds so abundant anywhere as here, 

 and flocks of from 75 to 100 are sometimes seen. More 

 often, however, the companies are much smaller. 



If you see these birds coming a good way off, they 

 will very likely fool you by their manner of flight, and 

 you will at first say "Blackheads," and then "No, can- 

 vas-backs." Perhaps it will not be until they are almost 

 within gunshot that you disappointedly exclaim: 

 "Hairy crowns." These birds, though commonly they 

 do not pay much attention to the decoys, come up with- 

 out the least hesitation if they make up their minds to 

 come, and alight in the water, swimming about with 

 lowered crest and diving for food, quite unconscious 

 that the decoys are shams. If you stand up in your 

 blind and raise your gun they erect the crest in token 

 of suspicion, and then may dive and swim under the 

 water for a long way, or perhaps jump up and offer you 

 a shot. It is only their swift flight that makes them 

 hard to hit, for they fly very steadily. Sometimes, 



