58 Waterfowl. 



when they had reached the spot where they intended to 

 light. In shooting in the grain fields there is usually 

 plenty of time to aim, a snap shot being from the nature 

 of the sport exceptional. Care must be taken to lie quiet 

 until the ducks are near enough ; shots are most often lost 

 through shooting too soon. Heavy guns with heavy 

 loads are necessary, for the ducks are generally killed at 

 long range ; and both from this circumstance as well as 

 from the rapidity of their flight, it is imperative to hold 

 well ahead of the bird fired at. It has one advantage 

 over shooting in a marsh, and that is that a wounded bird 

 which drops is of course hardly ever lost. Corn-fed 

 mallards are most delicious eating ; they rank on a par 

 with teal and red-head, and second only to the canvas- 

 back a bird, by the way, of which I have never killed 

 but one or two individuals in the West. 



In going out of this field we got a shot at a gang of 

 wild geese. We saw them a long way off, coming 

 straight toward us in a head and tail line. Down we 

 dropped, flat on our faces, remaining perfectly still without 

 even looking up (for wild geese are quick to catch the 

 slightest motion) until the sound of the heavy wing 

 strokes and the honking seemed directly overhead. Then 

 we rose on our knees and fired all four barrels, into which 

 we had slipped buckshot cartridges. They were away up 

 in the air, much beyond an ordinary gunshot ; and we 

 looked regretfully after them as they flew off. Pretty 

 soon one lagged a little behind ; his wings beat slower ; 

 suddenly his long neck dropped, and he came down like a 

 stone, one of the buckshot having gone clean through his 

 breast 



