DUCK SHOOTING 269 



in very light winds. When not in use it is laid 

 flat in the canoe. 



This mode of shooting, though very good for 

 securing game for the pot, is rather tame, and 

 both local sports and "city chaps," as my friend 

 Bob McLimont and others are designated by the 

 natives, prefer flight shooting. In some few 

 places, where there are rocky points or small is- 

 lands, this can be done from the shore by sitting 

 on the rocks, but the usual and preferable way 

 is from a canoe. Some projecting point or a 

 sand pit near one is selected. Thirty yards from 

 shore a canoe is stationed; then another one, 

 eighty yards further out, and so on, till all the 

 canoes are in position; the more the better; but 

 three or four will suffice, if no others are avail- 

 able. The main thing is to have them posted in 

 the form of the letter "C," with the arms open to 

 the direction from which most birds are known 

 to come. As they fly here mostly to the westward, 

 points facing east are the best. When a flock 

 comes along the first canoe outside is the most 

 conspicuous, and the birds deviate towards the 

 land, where they get inside the "C," and then 

 have to fly somewhere over the canoes. Sometimes 

 if very shy, or in calm weather, they will at- 

 tempt to turn out of the C, with the result that 

 every canoe gets a shot at them. I have seen 

 small bunches completely wiped out in a round 

 like this. Firing into a bunch without selecting 



