THE DUCKS. 217 



of water, with four and a half brace of snipe to our credit. 

 There we find Donald again reposing against a rock, the 

 smoke ascending in ripples from his pipe, and the boat 

 quietly secured to a convenient alder at his feet. Together 

 we walk down the opposite banks of the brook running to 

 the next " lynn." Pleasant enough in the summer time, 

 when its deep pools hold excellent trout, it now looks icy 

 cold, and we wonder at the taste of a pair of water-ouzels, 

 who stand on the stones bobbing their tails, or skim away 

 down stream at our approach, in remaining faithful all the 

 year round to such a desolate region. Nothing rewards us 

 here until the far end is reached. At that spot is a bit 

 of level ground, sometimes submerged by floods, and now 

 a chequered surface of grassy " hassocks," surrounded by 

 patches of ice and snow. No sooner do we turn the flank 

 of a protecting spur and come upon this favoured region, 

 all beglittered in the sunlight with icicles and frost, than 

 a flock of teal spring from their cover and wheel into the 



air in front. H , whose motto for to-day is certainly 



"ready, ay, ready," takes them "on the hop," and grasses 

 one in good style. My first chance is at a "skyer," who 

 doubles up and comes down back foremost forty yards 

 distant, and my second barrel wings another lightly. We 

 pick up the slain, their beautiful plumage contrasting won- 

 derfully with the snow on which they lie, and then the 

 dog goes for the wounded bird, recovering it after a chase 

 over crackling ice, hardly stout enough to bear a mouse's 

 weight, which lets him into some coldish water, if we may 

 judge by the vigorous shake he gives himself subsequently. 

 There is, to me, no water-bird like the teal for game quali- 

 ties ; he has " all the instincts of a gentleman ; " powerful 

 on the wing and sharp in his rise, he is up and away with 

 half the fuss of any other duck, yet a light touch stops him, 

 and unhit he often has the consideration to come round 

 again after a shot if the sportsman keeps quiet. This latter 

 quality was not illustrated by our teal to-day, so we beat 



