DUCKS IN THOUSANDS. 263 



corn that had been gathered into shocks, from the back of 

 one of which I took shelter from the blast as well as con- 

 cealment. Never shall I forget the scene. The ducks 

 came in thousands, all flying before the wind, and if a 

 dozen guns had been there instead of one, abundant work 

 would have been found for all. On another occasion, in 

 the same locality, two friends of mine killed in two or three 

 hours in the evening, and in an hour and a half the 

 succeeding morning, eighty-four brace of mallard duck. In 

 the spring of 1866, when in Iowa, the first day of thaw, I 

 went for a stroll, scarcely expecting to find game : but 

 when I got on the prairie land, I was perfectly astonished 

 at the clouds of wild-fowl arriving from the south, some of 

 the ponds being so densely covered with duck that the 

 surface could scarcely be seen. These birds were all coming 

 from the south, where they had passed the winter. If any 

 of our readers intend to go in for work, and do not object 

 to roughing it, I should most decidedly say that the wild- 

 fowl shooting is good enough to justify a visit ; but let him 

 not be induced to keep in the vicinity of settlements ; but 

 let him and his attendants commence housekeeping on the 

 margin of one of the northern Minnesota lakes if in 

 summer (remember, one that produces an abundance of wild 

 rice) ; but if the reverse season should be selected, the 

 southern lagoons of the Mississippi will afford him 

 abundant sport, and any of the hospitable planters will 

 deem it a favour if he will do them the honour of making 

 their home his. 



When living on the upper portion of Lake Couchachin, 

 Simcoe district, from the beauty of an afternoon and the 



