42 The Water-fowl Family 



About all the favorite bars and flats brush blinds 

 have been built. These are composed of green 

 cedar tops staked out early in the fall, forming 

 a sufficient cover for a good-sized flat-bottom boat. 

 At high water many of the blinds are entirely 

 submerged, while when the tide is out they are 

 exposed for a distance of four or five feet. With 

 early winter come the first opportunities for gun- 

 ning. For weeks the birds have been watched 

 for the right chance, and now it is at hand. The 

 weather for the past few days has been threaten- 

 ing, stormy, and rough. Finally a brisk breeze 

 from the east promises the first good day. A flat- 

 bottomed sloop lies anchored off one of the flats. 

 Tied to her stern are two small dinks, stacked 

 high with stool. For a week brant have been 

 leading up the bay to this particular shoal, spend- 

 ing the time of low water on the bars, then 

 moving out in vast rafts to the channel. Persist- 

 ing wind, however, has broken up the masses of 

 birds, and indications for the morning could 

 hardly be improved. In the evening a party of 

 gunners gather around the little stove, which 

 barely warms the cabin. It is cold, and outside 

 the wind howls, while every now and then comes 

 a wild sound, a sound that stirs the heart of him 

 who has heard it before. At times a perfect din, 

 it seems close to the boat, but in reality is a mile 

 or more away. Brant are gathered on the bar. 



