SHOOTING MALLARDS FROM A SCULL BOAT. 67 



they would fly without giving us a shot. One of the 

 ducks got uneasy and swam with her head a little too 

 high to please me. Only three ? Most certainly there 

 were four ! We downed them all. Aha ! 'cute, isn't 

 she ? See how she sneaks off, body buried beneath the 

 water and just her bill and top of head exposed. I'll 

 give her a dose of those 8's that will resurrect her. I 

 thought so ! Get these first, then we will pick her up 

 as we pass down. 



Those tall trees off to the east are on the border of 

 quite a lake, a great resort for blue-bills and red-heads. 

 We will work over that way, for I know that oii the 

 high pin-oak ridges, where the water must be from 10 

 inches to two feet deep, we will find large numbers of 

 mallards — unless other hunters have been there before 

 us, and they haven't, or we would have heard them 

 shooting. Just beyond the trees and north of the lake 

 there is high grass and smart^weed, and growing there 

 in immense quantities is a red or brown berry that 

 floats on the surface of the water, and is skimmed off 

 by the ducks, as they glide around through the tangled 

 meshes, half swimming, half wading. Did I hear it ? 

 Most certainly I did ; not only that one, but many 

 others. It is their quacking off in the feeding ground 

 I spoke of. Down among those large trees we can see 

 them swimming now. No use trying to scull them; 

 They know that in the shallow dead water where they 

 are, nothing floats, nothing moves ; besides, beneath 

 the surface of the water are hidden stumps and logs 

 that one's boat would ground on, and we would be 

 seen. Better let these go. See how they are moving 

 in the air, coming from the South ; all kinds, mallards, 

 blue-bills, red-heads ; and there darting swiftly tlirough 



