280 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



Fowl Shooting. Tlie really sportsman-like way of killing Can- 

 vass-Backs, however, is for the Shooter to station hinnself on 

 some one of the many points or hars along the bay shore or its 

 tributaries that the Ducks fly over in their course to and from 

 their feeding-grounds. Much depends, in this kind of shooting, 

 upon the disposition of the elements ; for neither pleasure nor 

 success can be reasonably expected, provid-ed the weather is 

 intensely cold, or the wind blowing fresh from a quarter that 

 carries the Ducks off from the point rather than on it. 



On the other hand, if the wind and weather prove favorable, 

 and the Ducks are flying briskly, there is not a more delightful 

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

 and judgment are requisite to strike the Ducks; and when thus 

 suddenly 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 indiffer- 

 ent 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 further 

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

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

 Point, and Carrol's Island. There are also some good points 

 about Elk and Isortheast Rivers, and a few on the Western 

 shore.* 



* There is a considerable difference between har-nliooting and poini-shooting ; 

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

 readers, we must premise our remarks by stating that, along the shores of the 

 Chesapeake, 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 con- 

 stantly passing and repassing to their feeding-grounds, Avithout going out of 

 their usual course to weather the points, as they would do under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances ; most of the shooting, therefore, is perpendicular, and consequently 

 far more difficult than when shooting directly oif of the point. Maxwell's Point 

 is thus formed by a very narrow strip of land. The shooting-points on the Elk 

 Pviver are Locust Point, Plumb Point, Little and Big Welch. Nearly all these 

 shooting-points are rented out. 



