WINTER PICTURES. 253 



shore was distinctly heard. A large bed of ducks 

 were feeding over on the Maryland side, a mile or 

 more away, and the multitudinous sputtering and 

 shuffling of their bills in the water sounded decep- 

 tively n^ar. Silently we paddled in that direction. 

 When about half a mile from them, all sound of feed- 

 ing suddenly ceased ; then, after a time, as we kept 

 on, there was a great clamor of wings, and the whole 

 bed appeared to take flight. We paused and listened, 

 and presently heard them take to the water again, 

 far below and beyond us. 



We loaded a boat with the decoys that night, and 

 in the morning, on the first sign of day, towed a box 

 out in position, and anchored it, and disposed the de- 

 coys about it. Two hundred painted wooden ducks, 

 each anchored by a small weight that was attached 

 by a cord to the breast, bowed and sidled and rode 

 the water, and did everything but feed, in a bed many 

 yards long. The shooting-box is a kind of coffin, in 

 which the gunner is interred amid the decoys, 

 buried below the surface of the water, and invisible, 

 except from a point above him. The box has broad 

 canvas wings, that unfold and spread out upon the 

 surface of the water, four or five feet each way. 

 These steady it, and keep the ripples from running in 

 when there is a breeze. Iron decoys sit upon these 

 wings and upon the edge of the box, and sink it to 

 the required level, so that when everything is com- 

 pleted and the gunner is in position, from a distance 

 or from the shore one sees only a large bed of ducks, 



