Duck-shooting 63 



eider is not uncommon off Massachusetts), rarely 

 broadbill and the wilder ducks. Very often 

 amusing instances happen in line shooting; a 

 bird, bewildered by successive shots, sometimes 

 passes over the whole line of boats, and is missed 

 in turn by one after the other. In one instance 

 I saw a white-winged scoter reach the end man, 

 after having called forth a shot from every boat; 

 but at the last crack the bird doubled up and the 

 gunner let out a yell of triumph which was short- 

 lived, for the falling bird struck him square in the 

 stomach and came near putting him out for good 

 and all. It was a case of an unexpected double. 

 This shooting is much facilitated by attaching 

 the anchor to a buoy, and tying the boat to this, 

 thus avoiding lifting the anchor whenever a bird 

 is to be picked up. On the Connecticut shore of 

 the Sound, the Thimble Islands used to be, and are 

 at present, a favorite spot for line shooting, and 

 many a ducking party has the old Money Island 

 hotel entertained. 



THE DECREASE OF WILD FOWL 



Between 1870 and 1875 fifteen thousand ducks 

 were not uncommonly killed on Chesapeake Bay 

 in a single day. Here in February and March it 

 was possible to see red-heads and canvas-backs in 

 rafts miles long, containing countless thousands 

 of birds. In the old days, Baltimore was the 



