DUCK-CATCHING. 403 



and allow them to drift down amongst their flocks, without 

 expressing any fear. The Duck-catcher, particularly 

 when from the state of the wind, or situation of the 

 birds, he observes the calabashes floating near a flock, 

 goes into the lake, with a calabash over his head, having 

 holes in it for seeing and breathing. Nothing is seen 

 above the water except the calabash, the Indian taking 

 care to keep the whole of his body immersed. He now 

 steals slowly and quietly towards the unsuspecting birds, 

 and when within arm's length, catches one of them by 

 the leg, and twitches it suddenly under water, before it has 

 time to alarm the rest, by crying or fluttering its wings. 

 He then moves towards another, which he treats in the 

 same way, and so on, till he has collected as many as he 

 can conveniently carry, attached to a belt round his 

 middle, and then he slowly retires, leaving the floating 

 calabashes amongst the Ducks. On another part of the 

 coast the same expedient is practised, excepting that 

 instead of a calabash, they use a sort of cap made of 

 rushes, similar caps being left to float amongst the flocks 

 of Ducks, to which they soon get as much accustomed as 

 those we first mentioned do to the calabashes. 



The Sheldrakes, which, as we have seen, build in 

 rabbit-burrows, are caught by snares placed before the 

 hole, into which the birds are traced by the marks of 

 their feet on the sand. In this country, our markets 

 are supplied either by those who are in the habit of 

 shooting them, as a livelihood during the Winter season, 

 or from decoys, in which by far the greater number are 

 taken. In shooting, the great difficulty is to get within 

 gunshot, the Duck not only being very watchful and 

 timid, but possessed of so fine a sense of smelling, that 

 but for the precaution of approaching them to leeward, 

 or of holding a piece of smoking turf in the hand, it is 

 no easy matter to get within reasonable distance. The 

 guns, also, which are employed for this purpose, are 

 much longer than those in common use, and will kill at 

 a much greater distance. A Duck-shooter's life is often 



2 D 2 



