io The Water-fowl Family 



sportsmen have generally come around to the 

 twelve as the most satisfactory, except in a few 

 instances. The man who shoots consistently a 

 twelve-bore gun will find it the best for all duck- 

 shooting. There are a few places where over- 

 head shooting is to be had at birds beyond reach 

 of the twelve-bore, and eight and even four bore 

 guns are shot. But excuses for using large bore 

 guns can seldom be found, and they should be 

 relegated to the past. 



In many sections of our country, clubs fitted 

 out with all possible comforts are the resort of 

 the duck hunter. Provided with a trained gun- 

 ner who manages the blind and sets the decoys, 

 who watches and calls, duck-hunting is a different 

 story. In one of the clubs near Boston, where 

 duck and goose shooting is had occasionally, the 

 blind is built as an addition to the club-house, and 

 when any luckless birds are sighted a bell touched 

 by the man on the lookout rings throughout the 

 establishment, and members are summoned to 

 the guns at any hour of the day or night. In the 

 South the most desirable locations on the Chesa- 

 peake and on the bays of Virginia and North 

 Carolina are occupied by clubs. Conspicuous 

 among them are the Carroll's Island, the Narrows 

 Island, and the Currituck clubs. In the days of 

 canvas-back on the Chesapeake the Carroll's Island 

 Club was one of the most famous in existence, 



