CHESAPEAKE BAY DUCKING. A77 



done were boxes sunk in the marsh, each furnished 

 with a pump for the removal of any water which leaked 

 into the box, and provided with seats, and with shelves 

 in front, on which.to rest ammunition. 



The shooting on the bar was at ducks flying from 

 the bay to the Gunpowder River, and originally was 

 done from blinds in the rushes on the bar. Later, boxes 

 were sunk in the bar, from which the men did their 

 shooting. These boxes were about fifty yards apart. 

 Often when the ducks flew well there was great shoot- 

 ing here, which in its character was precisely like the 

 pass shooting, elsewhere described. The birds came 

 overhead, at greater or less height, according to the 

 weather, and were shot as they flew over. As is else- 

 where stated, the shooting at these overhead birds, 

 which began with comparatively small guns, came at 

 last to be done with very heavy No. 4 gauge weapons, 

 in which enormous charges of No. 2 and No. 3 shot 

 were used. Sometimes it happened that a little bunch 

 of birds, flying up and downi the stream, as they rose 

 and bunched up to cross the bar, would be struck just 

 right by one of these enormous loads of shot, and half 

 of them would be killed, and the remainder, hard hit, 

 would come to the water several hundred yards off, and 

 there very likely be lost. 



That was the uncomfortable feature of this bar 

 shooting at Carroll's Island and at Benjies. While a 

 certain proportion of birds hit, fell at once either on the 

 bar or so near it that they could be recovered by the 

 dogs without trouble, very many others came down to 



