270 PKAIRIE AND FOREST. 



mine, some seconds after I had turned my attention to 

 other matters, informed me that my bird was down, 

 and he thought he could find it. After a long and 

 troublesome detour we reached the place, and the 

 retriever recovered it in a few minutes. On exami- 

 nation, there was not a shot in the head, but the body 

 was riddled to such an extent as to induce one to 

 surmise how it was possible for the machinery of the 

 body to work under such circumstances. 



To every rule there are exceptions, so I will give 

 one a very rare one, I believe in reference to black 

 duck. It was the last day of the Indian summer, and 

 consequently that preceding the commencement of 

 winter. The atmosphere was so wonderfully still, 

 that not a cat's-paw marked the surface of Lake 

 Conchachin, in Upper Canada. In the morning I 

 had crossed to the village of Orillia in a light skiff, 

 with the intention of returning as soon as possible 

 with some provisions required by the labourers em- 

 ployed clearing land. Circumstances delayed me till 

 almost mid-day before I took up my sculls to com- 

 mence my return journey, and as I had some distance 

 to go, and my craft was light, small, and crank, I 

 took a good survey of the horizon to see that* 

 no squalls were brewing. No, not a cloud hung on 

 the horizon, not a breath of wind disturbed the 

 wonderful repose of the scene, and the two islands 

 which formed either side of a strait through which I 

 had to steer stood up exaggerated to double their size 

 from the refraction of the atmosphere. A strong pull 

 and a long pull disposed rapidly of space, and about 

 half my journey was accomplished, when to my surprise 

 I saw about a dozen black duck not twenty yards from 



