THE OLD SQUAW 361 



ly for the practice and sport which they af- 

 ford, oftentimes leaving dead and wounded 

 hirds to float at the mercy of wind and tide. 

 It is at the hands of such butchers as these that 

 the myriads of seafowl that once lined our 

 coasts have been reduced to the hundredth part 

 of their former numbers, for no species, how- 

 ever numerous, could stand the drain upon their 

 forces resulting from such shooting, and to 

 make the matter worse, most are killed in the 

 spring flight to the north. I have seen twenty 

 boats at a time, each containing from two to 

 four shooters, all killing and wounding Squaws, 

 and the half of them never troubling to pick up 

 a bird. 



Most of the Squaw killing is done over de- 

 coys; a string of "tolers" anchored to wind- 

 ward of a boat and the gunner only using the 

 caution to keep below the gunwale until the 

 flock is hovering over the decoys. Another way 

 much in favor is to put a line of boats across a 

 sound or channel through which the birds are 

 accustomed to pass in going to and from their 

 feeding grounds, and by anchoring a little more 

 than a gunshot apart the birds have no choice 



