THE DUSKY DUCKS 221 



which were captured by the barber at the Star Island 

 hotel on the St. Clair flats, and the birds, though full- 

 grown, were quite tame and not alarmed at my 

 approach. There are usually eight or ten eggs. I 

 have shot the black-ducks on the Atlantic Coast, and 

 as far west as Wisconsin. I often killed a few of them 

 when mallard shooting on the marshes about the 

 Kankakee in Indiana. 



Their flight is rapid, very similar to that of the 

 mallard, and the quickly repeated wing beats are the 

 same. 



I learned two lessons shooting at these swiftly flying 

 marks. Two travelling birds, one flying several yards 

 behind the other, passed my boat on the open water of 

 Fox Lake, and shooting well ahead of the leading bird 

 I saw his mate fall dead. My second lesson occurred 

 a moment later when I went head foremost into the icy 

 waters of the lake. The light duck-boat was drifting 

 gently with the breeze. I stood up to load a muzzle- 

 loading gun. A tuft of grass, or other small obstruc- 

 tion, stopped the treacherous craft, it tipped a time or 

 two and I was out. I tried several times to get in over 

 the side and as often filled the little boat with water, 

 and had to bail it out, but finally climbed the end and 

 was quickly at the oars. My friend, whose gun was 

 booming a mile away, fortunately had the proper 

 remedy for cold, and leaving him I pulled strongly for 

 the shore. Before the club-house fire I soon was 

 warm again, and ready to return to the shooting. 

 Great care is necessary in standing in frail boats. 



The flesh of the black mallard is usually not so good 

 as that of the other river-ducks. The duck does not 



