A DAY WITH THE DUCKS ON LAKE CAYUGA 



239 



us a start for, if anything looks like two ducks in the 

 distance, it is one herring gull coming head on. The 

 black tips to the wings are the right distance apart and 

 have just the right motion to suggest a pair of ducks, 

 still far away but headed right for one. Earlier in the 

 season the kingfishers fool one, but their resemblance 



THE LAKE IS MUCH WARMER THAN THE AIR 



Vapor rising conceals everything but the foreground and the decoys. A 

 little more wind and it would be a perfect day for ducks. 



to ducks is due to their actual size and shape and their 

 method of flight while that of the gull is entirely a de- 

 lusion. At another time we were startled by a swish of 

 wings overhead and glanced up to see a black crow sail 

 over from behind and start to alight on the shore in 



SEVEN BELOW ZERO BUT EVERYONE HAPPY 



Steam rising from the lake and drifting over the point obscures every- 

 thing. One dared not close his eyes lest his eyelashes freeze together, 

 and one scarcely dared to smile lest his face crack, but what did it 

 matter if the ducks were flying? 



front of us. It is always a good test of the inconspicuous- 

 ness oi a blind to have the crows come thus close, so 

 we felt that at least we were not scaring the ducks away. 

 The icy mist was wafted over the point and froze 

 to our gun barrels. It covered our heads with frost 

 until white hats were almost unnecessary, and it formed 

 crusts on your eyebrows. One dared not close his eyes 

 lest his eye lashes freeze together, and dared scarcely 

 to smile lest his face crack. All the extra layers of 



clothing and heavy socks seemed of no avail; we were 

 gradually getting numb. Suddenly Sam exclaimed, "Here 

 they come," and three faint black specks appeared in the 

 south. "Art, you take the one on the right, Claude, you 

 the middle, and I will take the one on the left. Let 

 that be our program for the whole day and we won't be 

 shooting at the same birds." On they came, the black 

 specks rapidly growing larger, developing wings, and the 

 form of ducks. Soon their blocky heads could be made 

 out, conspicuous tails, and finally large white patches in 

 their wings. "Whistlers," Same exclaimed in disgust, 

 "they'll not come to our stools." Sure enough they 

 passed the point out of range and never even bent their 

 flight to look at the decoys. Early in the season the 

 young whistlers or golden-eyes "stool" very readily to 

 almost any sort of decoys but the winter birds become 

 exceedingly wary and usually will not look at anything 



AFTER THE SEASON CLOSES 



Canvasbacks feeding close to the shore upon grain that has been put 

 out for them. 



but their own kind. One has greater success in hunting 

 them with two or three decoys, somewhere along the 

 shore where they feed, than with a large number on the 

 points. They are inferior ducks for the table, however, 

 especially late in the season when they become quite 

 fishy in flavor, so that it does not pay to hunt them when 

 better varieties are available. The passing of these three 

 ducks, however, served to start our circulations and we 

 were ready when Sam espied five more coming a little 

 closer shore than the three that had passed. These had 

 the same open formation of flight, and, though we could 

 as yet not even make out the shape of their silhouettes, 

 we surmised that they also were whistlers. If they kept 

 to the line they were following, they would pass directly 

 over the blind so this brought up the question, "Do we 

 shoot whistlers?" "A duck is a duck until we each get 

 one," replied Sam. "Let them have it." They were com- 

 ing like the wind and in a thrice they were in range, 

 over the decoys and headed for the blind not twenty yards 



