FOWL SHOOTING. 



123 



FOWL SHOOTING ON LONG ISLAND. 



HIS sport, of which some persons be- 

 come passionately fond, preferring it 

 infinitely to Upland shooting, braving 

 all sorts of weather, and incurring in- 

 ^ finite fatigue in pursuit of it, is fol- 

 lowed on the Long Island bays, for 

 the most part, by two methods only 

 both of which, like the last, partake 

 in all respects the nature of ambush, rather than of pursuit. 



The common, and what may be called the old-fashioned mode, 

 closely resembles that above described, under the head of Bay 

 Snipe shooting, and consists in secreting a boat, containing one 

 or more gunners, in a recess scooped out of a mud bank, and 

 disguising it still farther with sedges and sea-weeds, in a posi- 

 tion commanding some favorite feeding ground of the Ducks 

 and Geese, and anchoring a flock of wooden decoys at a proper 

 distance from the station in the shallow water. 



As the tide rises, the fowl move from place to place, coming 

 from what then becomes deep into shallower water, and vice 

 versd, at the ebb ; and as they fly to and fro, they are attracted 

 by what they imagine to be a flock of their confederates, and 

 sail down to hold colloquy with them, sometimes even settling 

 in their midst, and giving the experienced gunner favorable 

 opportunities at times of getting three or four barrels into the 

 flock, and so doing deadly execution. 



Canada Geese can often be induced to lower their flight, and 

 stoop to the decoys by the imitation, which is very accurately 



