BIRDS OF 



Our inland lakes and rivers are, at certain seasons, visited 

 by crowds of Waterfowl, and the hunter, hidden behind his 

 screen of rushes in the marsh, delights tohear the hoarse honking 

 of an old gander as he leads on his A shaped flock of Geese, or 

 to see the flocks of Ducks wheeling around and pitching down 

 into " the open water beside his decoys. At Long Point, and 

 other shooting places where the Ducks have been protected, 

 the number killed in a day is often very large. Dull, windy 

 weather with light showers of rain is preferred. If the hunter 

 is fortunate in choosing a good point at which to screen his 

 boat among the rushes he may remain there all day, and if the 

 Ducks are moving about he needs only to load as quick as he is 

 able and kill as many as he can, the proof of his success being 

 the number he brings home at night. 



Not so with the Field Ornithologist, whose pursuits I have 

 always felt to be more refined and elevating than those of the 

 ordinary sportsman. As soon as the winter of our northern 

 clime relaxes its grasp, and the season of flowers and brighter 

 skies returns, he enters the woods as if by appointment, and 

 hears among the expanding buds the familiar voice of many a 

 feathered friend just returned from winter quarters. The meeting 

 is pleasant and the birds pass on. The walk is enjoyable, the 

 bush is fragrant and freckled with early spring flowers, the loud 

 warning note of the Great Crested Fly-catcher is heard in the 

 tree tops. Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, etc., are there 

 in brilliant plumage and full of life, but a note is heard or a 

 glimpse is seen of something rare, and then is the time for the 

 collector to exercise his skill. He must not fire when the bird 

 is too close or he will destroy it. He must not let it get out of 

 reach or he may lose it. He must not be flurried or he may 

 miss it, and if he brings it down he must carefully mark the 

 spot where it fell and get there as quick as he can, for if the bird 

 is only wounded it may flutter away and hide itself, and even 

 if it falls dead it may be covered with a leaf and not seen again 

 unless the spot where it fell is carefully marked. 



All seasons have their attractions, but the month of May 

 above all others is enjoyed by the collector, and bright and 

 rare are the feathered gems he then brings from the woods to 

 enrich his cabinet. 



252 



