252 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



the village juveniles to practice at, I started for a favorite 

 stand, which, with the present wind, was certain to be 

 abundantly frequented. So I found it, and soon had a 

 bag sufficiently large to satisfy the most greedy sportsman. 

 While shooting, the incessant calling of wild swans had 

 attracted my attention, and thus, directed by sound about 

 half a mile off, upon the edge of the floe ice, I could distin- 

 guish several flocks of these noble birds, each of them com- 

 posed of about twenty members. Anxious as I was to ob- 

 tain a few specimens, I was not sufficiently sanguine to be- 

 lieve that I had the slightest prospect of success, for, from 

 the continued fusillade I had kept up, they must have be- 

 come well aware of my hiding-place. Still I could' not re- 

 sist admiring the scene, one not often seen by British 

 sportsmen : a vast expanse of frozen salt-water, here and 

 there opened by air-holes, and the distant tidal current cov- 

 ered with bergs of every shape, nearly all affording resting- 

 places for the noble game. The Chesapeake never looked 

 more attractive to me than that day ; for, although the cold 

 w r as intense, the atmosphere was clear, so that the sharp 

 points and rugged outlines of each berg stood out clearly 

 defined, while the distant swamp -pines, with their dark- 

 green foliage, formed a charming contrast to the other por- 

 tions of the snow-and-ice-covered landscape. With my 

 field-glass by-the-way, a most important part of all sports- 

 men's outfit long and patiently I watched the habits of the 

 pure white beauties ; and with what pleasure they appeared 

 to enjoy their ablutions in the frigid water, one moment 

 splashing and throwing it far and wide, at another pursu- 

 ing rivals of whom they were jealous, or cooing notes of 

 love or admiration over mates in whose favor they wished 

 to establish themselves. Again, they would rise and flap 

 their broad pinions, as if to test that their exertions had 

 not deprived them of the powers of flight ; or, struggling 



