DUCK-SHOOTING. 397 



bid them all farewell, I set out, with my birds pack- 

 cd in ice, for the City of New York. My friends 

 welcomed me and my birds gladly. Reader, had 

 you been my friend, you would also have welcomed 

 us both. 



It is surprising how well the duck-shooting in the 

 confluents of the great lakes has held out in spite 

 of time and breech-loaders. Wild ducks, like tame 

 ones, lay fifteen to twenty eggs, not like the English 

 snipe, which rarely lays more than four. They go 

 to inaccessible places to breed, and are so tough, 

 strong, and active, that they can put their natural 

 enemies almost at defiance. Spring shooting has 

 been forbidden, and the result is that as many are 

 now killed every fall as were killed twenty years ago. 



