Canvas- Back and Terrapin. 741 



walked leisurely over, and Joe, having gone to his cabin for a young 

 spaniel in his keeping, overtook us. Cold Spring was full of ducks, 

 but they were all "bedded" far out from the shore. We made for a 

 sheltered cove, and were shortly crawling on our hands and knees 

 through the calamus and dry, yellow-tufted marsh-grass, which 

 made a good cover almost to the water's edge. Joe left the dogs 

 with us, and, going back into the woods, presently returned with his 

 hat full of chips from the stump of a tree that had been felled. The 

 ducks were swimming slowly up before the wind, and it seemed pos- 

 sible that a large body of them might pass within a few hundred 

 yards of where we were. The two dogs, Rollo and Jim, lay- 

 down close behind us, and Joe, lying flat behind a thick tuft a few 

 yards to our right, and about fifteen feet from the water's edge, had 

 his hat full of chips and held the young spaniel beside him. All 

 remained perfectly quiet and watched the ducks. After nearly 

 three-quarters of an hour's patient waiting, we saw a large body of 

 ducks gradually drifting in toward our cove. They were between 

 three and four hundred yards away, when B. said : 



" Try them now, Joe ! Now, boys, be ready, and don't move a 

 muscle until I say fire !" 



Then Joe commenced tolling the ducks. He threw a chip into 

 the water, and let his dog go. The spaniel skipped eagerly in with 

 unbounded manifestations of delight. I thought it for a moment a 

 great piece of carelessness on Joe's part. But in went another chip 

 just at the shallow edge, and the spaniel entered into the fun with 

 the greatest zest imaginable. Joe kept on throwing his chips, first 

 to the right and then to the left, and the more he threw, the more 

 gayly the dog played. For twenty minutes I watched this myste- 

 rious and seemingly purposeless performance, but presently, looking 

 toward the ducks, I noticed that a few coots had left the main body 

 and had headed toward the dog. Even at that distance, I could see 

 that they were attracted by his actions. They were soon followed 

 by other coots, and, after a minute or two, a few large ducks came 

 out from the bed and joined them. Others followed these, and then 

 there were successive defections of rapidly increasing numbers, 

 ral ducks stood up in the water by the aid of their wings, 

 sustained themselves a moment, and, sitting down, swam rapidly 

 around in involved circles, betraying the greatest excitement. And 

 47A 



