482 DUCK SHOOTING. 



which were mounted these great guns, and slaughtered 

 the ducks by thousands on their roosting beds. 



These guns, which were commonly known as "night 

 guns," are huge single-barrel shotguns, patterned after 

 an ordinary shotgun, but weighing sometimes 150 

 pounds, with a bore considerably over an inch in diam- 

 eter. Such a gun was mounted on a pivot in the bow 

 of a small skiff, to be paddled through the water, or 

 which might be mounted on runners and pushed over 

 the ice. The stock of the gun was braced against a 

 block in the boat, and the recoil of the discharge often 

 sent the boat back a long way through the water. The 

 gun was usually painted the same color as the boat, 

 some dull, inconspicuous tint. For many years there 

 have been laws prohibiting the killing of ducks by this 

 means, and many efforts had been made to convict the 

 persons who were known to practice this illegal gun- 

 ning. For this reason, each gun was so mounted in its 

 boat that it could be easily detached from its fittings, 

 and each had a long string attached to it, running to a 

 buoy, so that in case of an alarm the arm could be 

 pitched overboard, and the owner paddle away, to re- 

 turn for his property at a later day. 



The number of birds killed by the discharge of one 

 of these guns was, of course, very great. The common 

 load was from a quarter to a third of a pound of powder 

 and one and a half to two pounds of shot. The gunner 

 paddled up quietly to the raft of sleeping canvas-backs, 

 adjusted his gun to suit himself and discharged it, 

 sometimes gathering from 75 to 100 ducks as the results 



