118 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



Those two friends stand silently hid behind the pro- 

 tecting tree, the hunter debating in his mind, whether 

 to step boldly out, plainly in view and rout the birds, 

 or attempt, by crawling, to get a sitting shot. He de- 

 cides the former, and when he steps out in open sight, 

 is seen, and with a grand roar that fills the woods with 

 its volume, the birds arise in fright, and in pairs and 

 flocks, both great and small, fly away. The dog looks 

 askance at his master, questioning the propriety of 

 routing such an immense flock without firing a shot ; 

 but a reassuring pat on the head, a kind word, dispels 

 the doubt from his mind, and he cheerfully and silent- 

 ly acquiesces to the judgment of his master. The ducks 

 are loath to leave a place like this, and soon begin to 

 return — they will not keep out. Coolly the hunter 

 knocks them right and left ; the dog is irf an ecstasy of 

 delight. Constant exercise has caused the blood to 

 rush through his veins ; he comes and goes in and out 

 the water, his brown coat glistening with glittering 

 ice, forming brilliant beads in the sun-light ; then he 

 marks the course of a w;ing-tipped drake, as it tries 

 hard to follow the flock, and falls one or two hundred 

 yards from the shooter. Away he goes along the 

 ridges, through brush-piles, over frozen sloughs and 

 soon returns, the drake in- his strong jaws, with its 

 good wing beating against his nose, while its long neck 

 encircled with its white tie, its glossy dark green 

 head teeters and swings up and down in perfect rythm 

 with the movement of the dog's body. 



When a man finds a place like this, he has found a 

 mine, which is exhaustless for that day. If he intends 

 staying in the neighborhood, he should hunt some 

 other place similar to this, — hunt them on alternate 



