214 WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 



It is impossible to particularize localities as pre- 

 eminent for this sport where so many are good ; 

 and the innumerable streams, lakelets, drowned 

 lands, swamps, rivers, lakes, cultivated fields, and 

 even open prairies of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michi- 

 gan, and the Western States generally, abound in 

 their seasons with various descriptions of wild-fowl; 

 and for a statement of the mode of their pursuit, 

 and the views of their pursuers, no better course 

 can be taken than to give an account of a few days 

 in one of the numerous tributary bays of Lake Erie. 



Although the use of a light skiff is always desirable 

 and adds enormously to the comfort of the shooter, 

 circumstances will often arise that will deprive him 

 of its use ; and in such case he has no better re- 

 source than to don his long wading boots, and tramp 

 through the shallow water until he comes to a favor- 

 able spot, perhaps the deserted house of a family 

 of beavers ; and there, perched upon its summit and 

 concealed by the surrounding reeds, to resign him- 

 self to the inevitable inconveniences of his position. 

 When his feet grow cold in spite of their india- 

 rubber casing, and his muscles weary for want of 

 rest, he will long for the dry skiff; and when he 

 comes to " back " his load of game consisting, if 

 he is successful, of geese, canvas-backs, red-heads, 

 mallards, blue-bills, widgeons, and perhaps a swan 

 across the muddy flats a mile or two to dry laud, he 

 will long for it still more intensely. 



For shooting ducks the best weather is dark, or 

 even rainy, as at such times the birds fly closer to 



