JAN. WILD -DUCK. 175 



ever, all at once the mallards begin to fly from the 

 sea, and for half an hour or less I have to load and 

 fire as fast as I can, as they fly over. I prefer 

 shooting them on the wing, for if I let them pitch 

 in the water, my dog has a swim every time I kill 

 one, and gets half-dead with ice and frozen snow. 



The mallards generally fly in from the sea rapidly, 

 and at no great height; but it requires some practice 

 to kill them, as their flight is much quicker than 

 it appears, and they require a hard blow to kill 

 them dead. If wounded only, they fly off, and 

 dropping at some distance, I can seldom get them 

 that night, owing to the approaching darkness. 

 Sometimes my retriever marks the direction of a 

 wounded duck and gets it, but generally they are 

 lost, and serve only to feed the foxes, who seem to 

 hunt for maimed birds regularly round the lakes. 



Having killed ten mallards and a teal, it becomes 

 too dark to shoot any more, although I still hear 

 their wings as they fly over my head. Besides 

 which, I have nearly three miles to walk ; and my 

 keeper, who has also killed two or three, had, before 

 we commenced duck-shooting, sundry animals to 

 carry, the produce of my day's wanderings. We 

 have to walk home, too, there being no road near 

 these lakes. So, after I have refilled my pipe, and 

 the old fellow has recharged his nose with a spoon- 



