8 CANVASS-BACK DUCK. 
promise of success, old duckers recommend that the nearest duck should 
be in perfect relief above the sight, whatever the size of the column, 
to avoid the common result of over-shooting. The correctness of this 
principle I saw illustrated in an instance in which I had toled to within 
a space of from forty to seventy yards off the shore, a bed of certainly 
hundreds of ducks. Twenty yards beyond the outside birds of the 
dense mass, were five Black-heads, one of which was alone killed out 
of the whole number, by a deliberate aim into the middle of the large 
flock from a rest, by a heavy well-proved duck-gun. 
*“‘ Before I leave the subject of sitting-shooting, I will mention an oc- 
currence that took place in Bush River, a few years since. A man 
whose house was situated near the bank, on rising early one morning, 
observed that the river had frozen, except an open space of ten or twelve 
feet in diameter, about eighty yards from the shore, nearly opposite 
his house. The spot was full of ducks, and with a heavy gun he fired 
into it. Many were killed, and those that flew soon returned, and 
were again and again shot at, till, fearful that he was injuring those 
already his own, he ceased the massacre, and brought on shore ninety- 
two ducks, most of which were Canvass-backs. 
“To prevent the dogs, whilst toling, from running in, they are not 
allowed to go into the water to bring out the ducks, but another breed 
of large dogs of the Newfoundland and water-spaniel mixture are em- 
ployed. These animals, whilst toling is in progression, or at a point, 
take apparently as much interest in success as the sportsman himself. 
During a flight, their eyes are incessantly occupied in watching the di- 
rection from whence the birds come; and I have frequently seen them 
indicate by their manner, the approach of a flock so distant that the 
human eye would have overlooked it. As the ducks come on, the dog 
lies down, but still closely observing them, and the moment the dis- 
charge occurs, jumps up to see the effect. If a duck falls dead, they 
plunge to bring it; but many of them wait to see how he falls, and 
whither he swims, and they seem to be as aware as the gunner, of the 
improbability of capture, and will not make the attempt, knowing from 
experience that a bird merely winged will generally save himself by 
swimming and diving. These dogs usually bring one duck at a time 
out of the water; but a real Newfoundland, who was with me and my 
company this autumn, was seen on several occasions to swim twenty 
yards further, and take a second in the mouth to carry on shore. The 
