268 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



BLACK DUCK. 



The black duck is of all wild-fowl, scarcely even 

 excepting geese and swans, the wildest and most diffi- 

 cult to induce to come within gunshot. All who have 

 shot upon the low sedgy shores of the Chesapeake will 

 confirm this assertion, for well and frequently must he 

 remember to have watched with anxious and impatient 

 eye this dusky beauty wheeling, and wheeling in 



BLACK DUCK. 



gradually contracting flights, towards the well-guarded 

 decoys, only to leave them in disgust before the 

 impatient gunner was rewarded with a shot. More- 

 over, this species seems to be regarded by all others of 

 its family as a most reliable advance-guard in whom to 

 place confidence, for often have I seen both red-heads 

 and canvass-backs retire precipitously from the blind 

 to which they were coming direct, when a black duck 

 has been observed giving a wide berth to the decoys.. 



Mr. Copper and Mr. Macready, both commanding 

 vessels in the Maryland police force, than whom no 



