52 Waterfowl. 



across which the ducks fly in passing from one sheet of 

 water to another. Frequently quite a bag of mallard, 

 widgeon, and pintail can be made in this manner, although 

 nowhere in the Bad Lands is there any such duck-shooting 

 as is found farther east. Ducks are not very easy to kill, 

 or even to hit, when they fly past. My duck-gun, the 

 No. 10 choke-bore, is a very strong and close shooting 

 piece, and such a one is needed when the strong-flying 

 birds are at any distance ; but the very fact of its shooting 

 so close makes it necessary that the aim should be very 

 true ; and as a consequence my shooting at ducks has 

 varied from bad to indifferent, and my bags have been 

 always small. 



Once I made an unusually successful right and left, 

 however. In late summer and early fall large flocks of 

 both green-winged and blue-winged teal are often seen 

 both on the ponds and on the river, flying up and down 

 the latter. On one occasion while out with the wagon we 

 halted for the mid-day meal on the bank of the river. 

 Travelling across the plains in company with a wagon, es- 

 pecially if making a long trip, as we were then doing, is 

 both tiresome and monotonous. The scenery through the 

 places where the wagon must go is everywhere much the 

 same, and the pace is very slow. At lunch-time I was 

 glad to get off the horse, which had been plodding along 

 at a walk for hours, and stretch my muscles ; and, noticing 

 a bunch of teal fly past and round a bend in the river, 

 I seized the chance for a little diversion, and taking 

 my double-barrel, followed them on foot. The banks 

 were five or six feet high, edged with a thick growth of 



