SHOOTING MALLARDS IN A SNOW STORM. 73 



CHAPTER VII. 



SHOOTING MALLARDS IN A SNOWSTORM. 



THE very best shooting may be had at times, during 

 the heaviest snow storms. The ducks seek hidden, 

 sheltered, cosy retreats, protected from the violence of 

 the storm, and dislike to leave their feeding grounds. 

 At such times, they leave the corn-fields, large ponds, 

 rivers, and all unsheltered places, and hie themselves 

 to the heaviest timbered woods, where under the pro- 

 tecting shelter of the large trees, drooping willows, or 

 in quiet, smooth bayous, they sit all day long, feeding 

 on buds, acorns, smart-weed, larvae and the roots of 

 grass ; or, preening themselves, will sit around in in- 

 dolent leisure. 



On such a day, when the wind is driving the drifting, 

 blinding snow into one's face, or the melted snow is 

 trickling down his neck, as the young hunter walks be- 

 fore the blinding storm, he should avoid the prairies, 

 the open sloughs, and look for some quiet, sheltered 

 spot, and there he will surely find the birds. The drifting 

 snow, the howling wind, as it plays through the leafless 

 branches, breed in the ducks a spirit of uneasiness, and 

 they fly singly, in pairs, or in flocks over the tall trees 

 as they come in from the open places. The strong 

 wind impedes their flight, the snow blinds them. Along 

 they come, facing the storm, flying slowly over the tree- 



