264 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



us, gentlemen, all your experience in shooting ; 

 initiate us a little into the mystery of those fasci- 

 nating pursuits, which possess such seductive 

 charms for one-third of mankind ; but, for mercy 

 sake, do not frighten us tyros, ye old campaigners, 

 with ominous hints of undivulged but awful ex- 

 posures piteous descriptions of over-night double 

 B tricks upon travellers, the mere thoughts of 

 which are enough to make one's blood creep. 

 The truth is, there is no sport, with which we 

 are acquainted, better adapted to set up mind 

 and bod\ r , and we know of more lives than one 

 saved by paddle-shooting on the Delaware. 



On the flats canvass-backs may be distin- 

 guished from other ducks by their incessant 

 diving, and in the air they are known by the 

 wedge-like shape which the flock assumes, and 

 the superior altitude of their flight to and from 

 the feeding grounds. The shooters on the 

 Chesapeake recognize them with the naked eye 

 a great distance. We were assured by a 

 veteran sportsman that, under the cover of the 

 long, thick grass which covers a large portion 

 of the island of Spesutia, he was once enabled 

 to approach, on the leeward shore, within fifty 

 yards of a large flock composed entirely of this 

 noble wild fowl. He described them as wholly 



