284 FEATHEEED GAME 



ger where there is the greatest number of 

 heads. The encore when the survivors rise like 

 the scattered fragments of a bursting shell will 

 hardly account for more than a pair, but usually 

 the "pot-shot" with the first barrel has done 

 grand service toward thinning the game sup- 

 ply, and it is no uncommon occurrence for one 

 gun in experienced hands to gather in nearly 

 all of the flock. I have known a man to wait 

 twenty minutes with his destroyer resting on 

 the edge of the ''sink" in order to clean up the 

 whole bunch with one cartridge. Commend- 

 able economy! These methods are mainly em- 

 ployed by market gunners whose favorite 

 weapon is, in most cases, an eight- or four-bore 

 ''shoulder cannon." To the majority of 

 shooters I believe that one duck killed cleanly 

 on the wing will bring more real satisfaction 

 than half a dozen thus murdered. 



Very rarel}^ is the Black Duck fooled by any 

 wooden imitation of his kind. His keen eyes 

 mark the difference long before he is within the 

 reach of the gun, and swerving on rapid wings 

 he climbs skyward and makes off at great speed 

 — going clean out of sight, returning not at all 

 to such a dangerous neighborhood. 



