WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 245 



one incessant sound, most dear to the sportsman's ear, 

 the hum of innumerable wild-fowl calling to each 

 other. I retired with a light step and happy antici- 

 pations, for I looked forward to the morrow as certain 

 to afford me abundant employment for my gun. 



Next morning I was not disappointed, for every bay 

 and inlet was covered with game, even the open water 

 in front of the village, within gun-shot of the shore, 

 and intermingled among the fleet of oyster boats, were 

 numerous flocks of wild-fowl to be seen. Leaving the 

 birds near home for the village juveniles to practise at, 

 I started for a favourite stand, which, with the present 

 wind, was certain to be abundantly frequented. So I 

 found it, and soon had a bag sufficiently large to satisfy 

 the most greedy sportsman. While shooting, the inces- 

 sant calling of wild swans had attracted my attention, and 

 thus directed by sound, about half a mile off, upon the 

 edge of the flow ice, I could distinguish several flocks 

 of these noble birds, each of them composed of about 

 twenty members. Anxious as I was to obtain a few 

 specimens, I was not sufficiently sanguine to believe 

 that I had the slightest prospect of success, for, from 

 the continued fusilade I had kept up, they must have 

 become well aware of my hiding-place. Still I could not 

 resist admiring the scene, one not often seen by British 

 sportsmen : a vast expanse of frozei; salt water, here and 

 there opened by air-holes, and the distant tidal current 

 covered with bergs of every shape, nearly all affording 

 resting-places for the noble game: The Chesapeake 

 never looked more attractive to me than that day ; for, 

 although the cold was intense, the atmosphere was 

 clear, so that the sharp points and rugged outlines of 

 each berg stood out clearly defined, while the distant 



