156 Lake St. Clair. 



house from the time of entering the flats till, satiated with 

 sport, he reluctantly turns the boat's head towards the set- 

 tlements ; running the boat, always a flat-bottomed one, up 

 at night on a bank of sedge, where the fire is built and the 

 meal prepared, he eats with a- zest unknown to the denizen 

 of the town ; having supped, he inhales the fragrance of his 

 Indian weed, and prepares for the early dawn somewhat as 

 follows : He dons a thick flannel guernsey, two pairs of socks 

 and easy shoes, a warm long-waisted vest, and an oil-cloth 

 fisherman's coat at his side for any emergency. For his 

 arms, he has two single-barrelled duck guns, one loaded with 

 Eley's green wire cartridge, 4 oz. weight of B.B., the other 

 with loose shot, No. 40, capped with military caps. He sees 

 his traps all bestowed in the boat ; sees that it is clean and 

 empty, that the sedge or rushes at the bottom of it are dry, 

 and then takes advantage of his last contrivance for comfort. 

 This consists of a bag six feet long by three wide of buffalo 

 robe (fur inside), covered with drabbed oil-cloth on the out- 

 side, and provided with a running string at the mouth ; 

 getting into this, he ensconces himself up to the armpits, 

 reclines himself calmly on his back ; is towed to the ap- 

 pointed ground, and then, covered ^ith sedge or reeds, lies 

 perdu, with his anchored stools or decoy-ducks around him, 

 nor moves, even to tremble with cold — for that he feels not, — 

 nor gives any sound or sign of life, except when the wedgy 

 squadrons sweep down, heavy flapping, to their wooden 

 congeners, harojiking hard by his ambush, — when he springs 

 up erect on his nether man, and pours in with redoubled 

 roar the scattering volleys, which fill the air with fluttering 

 feathers, — falling birds. 



To give some idea of the sport to be obtained on these 

 flats, the following extract from the Toronto Leader, of 

 November i860, speaks for itself: — "Captain Strachan and 

 Mr. Kennedy returned last evening from a fortnight's shoot- 

 ing in the St. Clair marshes, where they had excellent sport, 



