74 NATUEAL HISTOET SKETCHES. 



comes upon a large, clear, open water-hole, on the margin 

 of which a score or so of ducks are floating lazily about, 

 or sleeping in the hot sun. One barrel on the water, one 

 as they rise, and in dashes the retriever, and first chasing 

 the winged birds, brings to land the killed and wounded ; 

 and perhaps two couple or more of ducks lie dead upon 

 the bank. The reeds are generally so thick round the 

 water-hole, that many a wounded bird, and others that 

 fall dead at a little distance, are lost. The ducks which 

 go away rarely fly far, but drop in another hole a little 

 lower down the stream; and two or three good shots 

 fill the bag. You will rarely find ducks in the brackish 

 water-holes at the mouths of the creeks. I have re- 

 marked two things in duck-shooting out here : whenever, 

 by day, I saw the swallows flying over the tops of the 

 bulrushes, and dipping down into the hole, I was almost 

 certain I should find no ducks; and at night, whenever the 

 frogs were silent on the lagoon, ducks were on the water. 

 A good retriever is indispensable to the Australian 

 duck-shooter, for the scrub and reeds around the creeks 

 and water-holes are so thick, and the grass on the swamps 

 and plains is so long, that a wounded bird is lost in a 

 few seconds. A winged black duck often dives and 

 comes up again in thick rushes, where it sits so close 

 that even a good dog will often pass over it. It is a safe 

 plan, after a shot, to try round the edges of the scrub 

 outside the hole, for a wounded duck often creeps out on 

 land. A duck-shooter here may reckon on losing half 

 his birds without a retriever. 



