DUCK. SHOOTING IN AMERICA. 61 



DUCK SHOOTING IE" AMEEICA. 



IT may not be uninteresting to sportsmen to have 

 an account of what sport they may look forward to 

 if chance or intention should place them on the 

 prairies of the Western Continent. It has long been 

 my belief that Nature had strongly before her the 

 wants of the votaries of field sports when this favored 

 land was constructed, for the abundance of indige- 

 nous food, the variety of cover, the distribution of 

 water, and the salubrity of the climate are such, that 

 probably in no other portion of the globe similar 

 happy combinations can be found ; and, as a result, 

 the abundance of game falls not one iota behind 

 what might be expected. In wild-fowl shooting 

 there are two desiderata on which success depends : 

 first, suitable weather ; secondly, the gunner being 

 clothed in suitable colors, Having both the above 

 advantages, please to imagine yourselves, on a cold, 

 blustering afternoon, a few flakes of snow falling, 

 and a strong presentiment of a severe frost before 



