CANVAS-BACK. 297 



of enjoying one's self than in point-shooting. Great skill and 

 judgment are requisite to strike the ducks ; and when thus sud- 

 denly stopped in their rapid course, they present a beautiful sight 

 as they come tumbling down with a heavy plash from a height of 

 one, two, or even three, hundred feet. 



It is this kind of duck-shooting that either displays the igno- 

 rance or dexterity of the sportsman ; for, without long practice 

 in this particular branch, the best general shooter in the country 

 would appear to little advantage alongside even of an indifferent 

 ducker. 



The principal sites on the Chesapeake Bay where sportsmen 

 resort for this kind of pastime are the points immediately about 

 Havre de Grace, the Narrows of Spesutia, a few miles farther 

 down, Taylor's Island, Abbey Island, Legoe's Point, Marshy Point, 

 Bengie's Point, Robbins's and Ricket's Point, Maxwell's Point, 

 and Carrol's Island. There are also some good points about Elk 

 and Northeast Rivers, and a few on the western shore.* 



Carrol's Island has long been in possession of a club of sports- 

 men, who regularly resort to this favorite spot during the ducking 

 season, and seldom return home without being heavily laden with 

 the rich spoils of their skill. Not only canvas-backs, but the 

 larger species of wild fowl, are killed at Carrol's Island. Numbers 

 of swans and geese are seen flying about these points ; and the 

 ambitious sportsman will often have an opportunity to bring down 

 with his steady hand the most majestic as well as the most beautiful 

 of all the feathered race. If any of our readers should feel this 



* There is a considerable difference between bar-shooting and point-shooting. The 

 latter we have already described ; and, to make the former intelligible to our read- 

 ers, we must premise our remarks by stating that, along the shores of the Chesa- 

 peake, the land stretching out into the bay to form these shooting-points is often a 

 mere narrow peninsula, termed a bar, over which the ducks are constantly passing 

 and repassing to their feeding-grounds, without going out of their usual course to 

 weather the points, as they would do under ordinary circumstances ; most of the 

 shooting, therefore, is perpendicular, and consequently far more difficult than 

 when shooting directly off the point. Maxwell's Point is thus formed by a very 

 narrow strip of land. The shooting-points on the Elk River are Locust Point, 

 Plumb Point, Little and Big Welsh. Nearly all these shooting-points are rented out. 



