FOWL SHOOTING. 



1U3 



CHESAPEAKE BAY SHOOTING 



HE Chesapeake Bay, with its tribu- 

 bary streams," says he, " has from its 

 ■tj^ discovery, been known as the greatest 

 ^^ ^ resort of water fowl in the United 

 States. This has depended upon the 

 profusion of their food, -which is ac- 

 cessible on the immense flats or shoals 

 that are found near the mouth of the 

 Susquehanna, along the entire length of North-east and Elk 

 rivers, and on the shores of the bay and connecting streams, as 

 fa • south as York and James rivers. 



" The quantity of fowl of late years has been decidedly less 

 than in times gone by ; and I have met with persons wdio have 

 assured me that the number has decreased one-half in the last 

 fifteen years. This change has arisen, most probably, from the 

 vast increase in their destruction, from the gi'eater number of 

 persons who now make a business or pleasure of this sport, as 

 well as the constant disturbance they meet with on many of 

 their feeding grounds, which induces them to distribute them- 

 selves more widely, and forsake their usual haunts. 



" As early as the first and second weeks in October, the 

 smaller Ducks, as the Buffel-head,* Anas Albeola ; South-south- 

 erly, A. glacialis; and the Ruddy or Heavy-tailed Duck, A. Ru- 

 bida ; begin to show themselves in the upper part of the bay; 

 and by the last of the month, the Black-head,t A. marila ; Wid- 

 * Long-tailed Duck. t Scaup Duck. 



