i4o SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



shooting as stopping wounded or diving ducks. I 

 dare say many who read this will say " Bosh ! " All 

 I can say is, if you have never done it, try it, and 

 you will have your eyes opened to tfre fact, and will 

 say with me, " For quick shooting commend me to 

 a crippled duck, or what is still quicker, a crippled 

 pochard or widgeon." 



After having tried many times to get at the main 

 flock I found it was out of the question, so I turned 

 my attention to any small lots that I could find, and 

 as there used to be some of these in sundry corners 

 of the lake, I sometimes managed to do pretty well ; 

 and when I have found six or eight ducks sitting 

 well together and asleep in the sun, I have on more 

 than one occasion cut up the whole company. But 

 this was not often the case ; the powder was so 

 abominably weak and bad that unless I could get to 

 within about sixty yards I used often to find nothing 

 but feathers where there ought to have been ducks, 

 for when they are sitting on the water, and, as I have 

 before stated, asleep, with their heads under their 

 wings, they present, as it were, nothing but a heap 

 of feathers, and it takes a deal to kill them. Some- 

 times one has been able to get them to set their heads 

 up by giving a sharp tap on the bottom of the punt 



