76 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
our blind looked like a little island. :With a shovel 
the guide turned up about fifty lumps of mud, 
which were supposed to decoy the unwary teal, and 
then we were ready for work. We sat in the punt 
and watched the horizon to the west. Before long 
a couple of teal were seen flying up the bay a few 
feet above the water and a long way off. When 
they got abreast of us they turned at right angles 
to their course and came straight in. We crouched 
down and waited until they were within fifty yards, 
then standing up, dropped them. It was almost 
too easy. When they saw us they tried to put 
about but it was too late. Our guide waded out 
and placed the dead birds on two of the muds. 
A short time after, a big flock came from an un- 
expected direction and were settling amongst our 
decoys before we noticed them. Three of these re- 
mained—and so the sport continued all afternoon. 
We appeared to be too far to the north, and in a 
bay comparatively little visited that day, but we 
managed to pick up over sixty birds between us 
before coming in and several large ducks were 
brought down on the way back. Among the bags 
this day was one of forty snow-geese. They were 
shot from a hole in the mud flat. 
The next day we repeated our trip to the north 
bay as we enjoyed shooting teal over decoys so 
much. We selected a site for our blind further 
east than the previous one. Again we saw the mud 
flats to the northwest white with geese. They were 
probably lesser-snow (Chen hyperboria). Wealso 
saw several enormous flocks of Canada geese flying 
