CONTENTS. 5 



CHAPTER XIX. 



DUSKY, OR BLACK DUCK. 



Black mallard in the West — Description^-Seldom seen in West — Size. 

 CHAPTER XX. 



AMERICAN COOT — MUD HEN. 



A harmless nuisance — ^Neither fit for sport nor food — A verdict with- 

 out a trial — ^Eaten sometimes — How they taste — ^Plenty in fall — 

 Voracious feeders and incessant chatterers — Skulking through the 

 rice stalks — Their flight — Drive them from decoys. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



BUrrLE-HEADKD DUCK — ABUTTER BALL. 



Smallest of duck tribe— Seldom hunted — Swift flyers — ^Thelr food. 

 CHAPTER XXII. 



BED-HEAD DUCK. 



Distinction between red-head and canvas-back — Great feeders — What 

 they like to eat — In the timber — A treacherous stream — Delightful 

 shooting — ^Decoys and how to use them — Call them — Best way to 

 capture a cripple — ^Where they are found — An evening in the Mis- 

 souri bottoms — Between 70 and 80 in an hour — Out of shells. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



SCIENCE OP SCULLING WILD FOWL. 



Trying to catch the motion — ^Very discouraging — " Swish-splash " — 

 How to catch the motion — Safety of scull-boat — Advantage of 

 sculling — Among the trees with common boat — With scull-boat — 

 After pin-tails and widgeon — Sculling a mallard drake — Going 

 down the marsh — Descriptive marsh scenery — An inquisitive pin- 

 tail — Cost of inquisitiveness — How to become a graduate lu wild 

 fowl shooting. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



PIN-TAIL— SPRIG-TAIL. 



A\Jiandsome bird — On some grassy knoll — Wild and restless — Cjom- 

 parison between male and female — More plenty in spring — Out in 

 the overflowed fields — How tantalizing ! — Just out of range — A 

 desperate hunter-^ At last he gets one down — Such luck ! — Lost and 



■' found — Decoy at times nicely — Use mallard decoys — Look sharp 1 

 ii*gh jumpers — Whistle their call often — How they descend verti' 

 ^lly — Travellers. 



