150 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



" Fudge ! those were yellow-leg snipe." 



" Maybe they were, but they were just as good." 



" Doctor, try a piece of hot veuison steak, or some cold bar ? " 



" No bear for me ; I would be thinking all the time about his 

 ugly teeth when he was shot." 



" It is not his teeth, but my own, I am afraid of," said Miss 

 Jackson, laughing; "give me some corn-bread, if you please, 

 Mike." 



" What are we to do with all these ducks ? " said the Doctor ; 

 " we can never eat them." 



" Yourn ? " asked Mike. 



A laugh. 



" No, ours ; those defunct, and those that are to be." 



"Never fear, a camp of fourteen people requires something 

 more than Indian corn." 



" What are you toasting there before the fire, Mike 1 " 



" Breast of crane." 



" Let me try a piece ? " asked Lou. 



"Sartin ; it's better en deer's meat," he replied, handing over 

 a strip on the end of his toasting-stick. 



" See de ducks ! " exclaimed the negroes, less busy than we 

 with their dinner, as a long train of ducks came floating over, pen- 

 cilling the clear sky. 



" Those are widgeon," said Jackson. 



" How can you tell so far off, father ? " 



" By the shape of the flock, I think ; I can hardly tell how. 

 They would be black duck, if they were not lighter in complexion. 

 Am I not right, Mike ? " 



" Reckon," replied Mike, following the passing cloud with his 

 eye till they faded away, and then continued musingly : " Some 

 takes kindly to that kind o' larnin'. Some kin tell what kind o' 

 duck is comin' by the sound he makes beatin' the air. Thar was 

 Picardo, Picardo Duck Legs he was called, because he had bow 

 legs. Wall, that man lived in his canoe, and he could tell what a 

 duck was a-goin' to do jist by the waggin' of his tail. He had 

 lived on duck-meat so long he could smell a duck like a pinter 

 dog. Thar 's the natur' o' man ; when God gives him a callin' he 's 



