CHESAPEAKE BAY DUCKING. 473 



prentice should not be obliged to eat salmon more than 

 twice a week, and in the same way, that in early days 

 along the shores of the Chesapeake, the slave-owners 

 who hired out their slaves to work for others stipulated 

 in their contracts that these slaves should not be obliged 

 to eat canvas-back ducks more than twice a week. 

 Copies of such contracts are declared to be still in exist- 

 ence in some of the Maryland counties. 



This great body of water, more than 200 miles 

 long, and from four to forty miles in width, with its in- 

 numerable bays, sounds, broad waters and sluggish 

 rivers, has unquestionably sheltered more wildfowl 

 than any other body of water in the country, and has 

 been the greatest ducking ground that America has 

 known. To write a history of Chesapeake Bay duck 

 shooting would require a volume by itself, and here 

 only the briefest reference can be made to a few of the 

 more celebrated localities. 



For manyyears Baltimore was the centre of the duck- 

 shooting territory, but with the growth and expansion 

 of that city its fame as a duck-shooting centre has been 

 forgotten, and of late years the little town of Havre de 

 Grace has become perhaps the best known of the gun- 

 ning localities, chiefly because it is the point from 

 which most battery gunners start. The Chesapeake 

 Bay is historic ground for the wildfowl, and although 

 its glories as a duck-shooting locality have in a large 

 measure departed, and the gunning has become a mem- 

 ory rather than a reality, it is worth while, neverthe- 

 less, to speak briefly of some matters connected with 



