732 



Canvas -Back and Terrapin. 



LIND AT BIDDISON S POINT, ON MIDDLE RIVER. 



called, took their places in per- 

 functory and solemn fashion, and 

 we shoved off, while about a doz- 

 en hounds and yard-dogs howled 

 a muffled and anxious adieu from the bank. 

 The moon hung low near the tree-tops, the 

 river was dark, and its outlines black and 

 mysterious. About a quarter of an inch of 

 ice had formed, and as we crashed steadily 

 through it, odd and fantastic echoes came from the 

 gloomy and silent shores. As we reached the broader 

 water nearer the mouth of the creek the ice disappeared, 

 but the surface was calm and nowhere gave back a reflection of the 

 moon. M. was in the bow and I in the stern, our host, B., rowing 

 in the middle. Suddenly he stopped, seized his gun and loaded it. 

 M. did the same ; I was too mystified to understand the proceeding, 

 and was content to wonder and look on, peering around in the gloom 

 to find the occasion, and seeing nothing but the impenetrable shad- 

 ows and the undefined depths of the dark shore. 



"Hist!" said B. "There is where they are," and taking his 

 gun between his knees, he pulled a few strong, quiet strokes again. 

 In a moment there was a most astonishing and startling noise, and I 

 saw, about five hundred yards to the right, a long line of bright 

 silver break upon the water. Thousands of ducks that had made a 

 great "bed" in the creek during the night had been startled and 

 were taking wing simultaneously, and the noise made by their 

 splashing as they rose was tremendous. Presently, as the last duck 



