718 Field Sports in Minnesota. 



now from our junior's stand a blinding flash shoots up into the air at 

 an acute angle, accompanied by a deafening crash, which rolls like a 

 burst of thunder along the surface of the lake, until it is echoed back 

 by the heavy belt of timber in a faint but perfect imitation. The 

 sound that interests us most, however, is the plunge of the retrievers 

 into the lake and the splashing in front of my friend's blind as one 

 or more victims flutter upon the surface of the water. 



A bunch of four or five swiftly moving, shadowy objects now 

 draw my fire, and before the echo of my double shot has fairly 



died away, J and W have each made their first shots of the 



morning, and with good effect. Prince is now climbing the bank 

 close by with a fine drake canvas-back, one of the two killed by 

 the first gun of the morning. My two setters are swimming a 

 race neck and neck for first choice on a pair that fell to my fire. 

 As for Turk, he is absolutely diving for a wounded duck which 

 has so far managed to elude his gaping jaws. At each fresh 

 failure to secure it, Turk gives a yelp of rage, but finally manages 

 to seize the duck by one wing and makes for the shore. The 

 slight hold he has obtained allows the duck to flutter vigorously, 

 filling its captor's eyes with water, much to his disgust. 



But the sport in the air eclipses in interest that in the lake, 



and at W 's sharp " Mark ! east ! ! " every one goes down behind 



his blind, out of sight of an approaching flock of red-heads. They 

 come on, unconscious of impending trouble, not over two yards 

 above the surface of the water. Their first hint of danger is taken 

 from seeing the dogs, which are swimming for shore, and they 

 make an extraordinary effort to mount high in the air. This gives 

 us a splendid opportunity, for from our point of sight they appear 

 to stand still, and a volley at this instant gives the dogs more 

 work to do. Our second barrels are put in with telling effect, 

 and the badly demoralized flock now presents a far different appear- 

 ance from that of a few moments before. The Bond boat is now 

 used to recover the birds that fell on the west side of the penin- 

 sula, and that would drift away before the dogs could attend to 

 them. 



A momentary lull in the flight gives an opportunity to look 

 about us and count our spoils. My friends have seventeen ducks 

 between them, while my own string shows six — three canvas-backs, 



