Ob AMBROSE— ON BIRDS FREQUENTING ST. MARGARETS BAY. 



degrees^ until a large number are well in^ and then, sitting and rising, 

 receive tlie deadly welcome. Tlie water is stained with blood, and 

 covered with the bodies of the slain, and the air is rent ^dth the 

 flapping and quacking of the sur"\dvors, and the barking of dogs 

 ere they muster courage to rush uito the half-frozen water and 

 secure the floating, swimming, and sprawling game. In this man- 

 ner, during the easterly passage of the birds, hundreds are secured 

 by the people on Iron-bound alone. I am credibly informed that 

 during the vernal and autumnal flights something over two thousand 

 birds were shot on this island in 1868. The greater part of the 

 game is sent to Halifax, Lunenburg, and the neighboring places for 

 sale, whilst the feathers bring from thirty to thirty-five cents a 

 pound. 



The people of Peggy's Cove shoot from theii' boats, lying off 

 in a Kne extending seaward from Peggy's Point. I have seen in 

 a morning in spring as many as fourteen or fifteen boats thus hdng 

 off, at the distance of a little more than a gunshot apart, tossing 

 on a sharp "lop," or slowly rising and falling on a southerly swell. 

 Two men go in each boat, one to fij'e and the other to keep the 

 boat in position by short strokes of the oar, wliich is called " drum- 

 ming." The vrind is south-west, or west, the weather is hazy, and 

 the birds, seizing the opportunity of a fair wind and obscurity, fly 

 from headland to headland in large flocks. To our unpractised 

 eye, as we stand on the cliff, no bird is \isible; but the urchins 

 around suddenly exclaim "there's a bunch comin'!" They come 

 straight on; but presently discovering the nearest boat, sheer 

 slightly, rise much higher, and pass between two other boats. 

 Bang! bang! is the salute, and you see the disabled suddenly 

 tumble with hanging wing; others reel on their coiu'se, try for a 

 moment to keep up with the increased rapidity of then compan- 

 ions, but fall here and there at short distances from, the boats. 



From daylight until eight or nine o'clock in the morning the 

 firing continues, and in the height of the flying season, at inter- 

 vals tliroughout the day. 



Sometimes these excursions are attended with excitement of a 

 different kind. Two of our fishermen, tempted by the abundance 

 of game, remained so long outside one squally morning, that at 

 length a hea^-y sea filled the boat, sweeping the men overboard. 



