510 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



man directs his skiff towards a flock whose position he had pievi- 

 ously ascertained, keeping within the projecting shadow of some 

 wood, bank, or headland, and paddles along so silently and imper- 

 ceptibly as often to approach within fifteen or twenty yards of a 

 flock of many thousands, among whom he generally makes great 

 slaughter. 



"Many other stratagems are practised, and, indeed, every plan 

 that the ingenuity of the experienced sportsman can suggest, to 

 approach within gunshot of these birds : but, of all the modes pur- 

 sued, none intimidate them so much as shooting them by night ; 

 and they soon abandon the place where they have been thus 

 repeatedly shot at. During the day, they are dispersed about, but, 

 towards evening, collect in large flocks, and come into the mouths 

 of creeks, where they often ride as at anchor, with their head 

 under their wing, asleep ; there being always sentinels awake, ready 

 to raise an alarm on the least appearance of danger. Even when 

 feeding and diving in small parties, the whole never go down at one 

 time, but some are still left above on the lookout. 



" When the winter sets in severely, and the river is frozen, the 

 Canvas-backs retreat to its confluence with the bay ; occasionally 

 frequenting air-holes in the ice, which are sometimes made for the 

 purpose, immediately above their favorite grass, to entice them 

 within gunshot of the hut or bush, which is usually fixed at a 

 proper distance, and where the gunner lies concealed, ready to take 

 advantage of their distress. A Mr. Hill, who lives near James 

 River, at a place called Herring Creek, informs me, that, one 

 severe winter, he and another person broke a hole in 'the ice, about 

 twenty by forty feet, immediately over a shoal of grass, and took 

 their stand on the shore in a hut of brush, each having three guns 

 well loaded with large shot. The Ducks, which were flying up and 

 down the river, in great extremity, soon crowded to this place, so 

 that the whole open space was not only covered with them, but vast 

 numbers stood on the ice around it. They had three rounds, firing 

 both at once, and picked up eighty-eight Canvas-backs, and might 

 have collected more, had they been able to get to the extremity of 

 the ice after the wounded ones. In the severe winter of 1779-80, 

 the grass, on the roots of which these birds feed, was almost wholly 

 destroyed in James River. In the month of January, the wind 



