118 NEW BR UNS WICK. 



and anchored in the feeding ground of the geese. The 

 sportsman either hides his punt under the lee of a clumpet 

 (miniature iceberg), or else dresses it out with cakes of ice, 

 and waits in it for the geese. At this season brant geese 

 and ducks of different sorts are coming in also, and some- 

 times give him plenty of employment. If the gunner 

 possesses a " paddle boat," now is the time to make use of 

 it, and very large bags of both Canadian and brant geese 

 have been made by aid of this contrivance. The paddle 

 boat is a light, handy, canoe-shaped punt. The paddle 

 wheels are constructed so that the sportsman can use both 

 arms and legs in working them, and are completely hid 

 from view by white linen curtains. It is, of course, painted 

 white, and the deck garnished with ice cakes. In front of 

 the paddle boxes an 8-inch board, with a peephole in the 

 centre and an embrasure for the gun, is adjusted athwart 

 the punt to hide the gunner, who when stalking birds 

 reclines on his back, and slowly propels the punt with his 

 feet, holding the rudder strings in his hands, nothing 

 visible from the outside but the tip of his white cap and 

 the muzzle of his gun, the latter of which reclines in the 

 embrasure. These craft so thoroughly resemble the lumps 

 of floating ice with which the bays are covered, that on one 

 or two occasions I have been stalked by a friend to within 

 a few yards distance without having detected his approach. 

 When near enough to the geese, the gunner drops his 

 rudder strings and lets fly, having previously, if the birds 

 are on the feed, given a low whistle to make them put up 

 their heads and club together. Eight or ten geese are 

 sometimes bagged to one shot of a shoulder gun. A punt 

 gun I have never tried, but I am sure it would do great 



