CANVAS-BACK. 279 



BOATING DUCKS. 



Another method of killing canvas-backs is that of boating them 

 on their feeding-grounds in small skiffs, either in the daytime or 

 during the still hour of night. The latter plan, of course, is the 

 most destructive and terrifying to the fowl. 



A large swivel, carrying several ounces of powder and a pound 

 or more of shot, is placed on the bow of a light boat, and, by 

 means of muffled oars and under cover of the darkness, it is carried 

 into the very midst of the sleeping ducks, and, being fired into their 

 thick columns, great numbers are destroyed as well as crippled. 

 This plan of killing wild fowl, however, is very generally repro- 

 bated by all respectable parties interested in this sport, and is very 

 properly restricted by legislative enactment. Notwithstanding, 

 however, the general discountenance of the community and the 

 severe penalties threatening the participators in this cruel plan 

 of butchery, many unprincipled poachers, who shoot for the mar- 

 kets, boldly resort to this expedient to fill their slender purses, 

 in spite of all law and the universal execrations of those who live 

 in the neighborhood of the bay. These impudent and reckless 

 fellows know full well the inefficiency of all such laws, owing to 

 the disinclination, or rather want of energy, on the part of the 

 people to enforce them ; for, without the assistance of those in- 

 terested in such matters, all legislative enactments in reference to 

 the preservation of game soon become obsolete, and the laws are 

 no more than a dead letter. 



Strong efforts, however, were made at the last session of the 

 Maryland legislature to do something towards the protection of 

 the wild fowl on the Chesapeake, by the suppression of the surface- 

 boats and the use of large guns ; but the enactment was of little 

 avail as regards the surface-boats, owing to some unlooked-for 

 defect in the framing of the act, and we now learn that there is 

 some probability of its being repealed altogether, which we very 

 much regret : we would much rather see it made more rigid and 

 then strictly enforced. 



