528 The Water-fowl Family 



distinctive in its manners and mode of life than 

 many of the others, so that less reliance can be 

 placed on it. It appears more often as a surprise 

 among a more numerous company, and it is often 

 a surprise in another way, for if one is not in full 

 practice, one is quite apt to underrate the speed 

 of this large duck. And the distance at which he 

 keeps, with his heavy armor of feathers, enables 

 him to laugh at any old-time hunting outfits. All 

 the larger ducks have learned so much that it is 

 now of little use to expect much of a bag with 

 anything but the best of modern guns and am- 

 munition. And these do not fully balance the 

 increased distance at which most shots must be 

 made, so that careful "leading" or shooting far 

 enough ahead of a crossing duck is becoming all 

 the time more important. More care has to be 

 taken, too, with blinds, while the decoys to 

 which ducks would readily pitch thirty years 

 ago would now drive half the ducks out of a 

 pond. The shooting is thus becoming more of 

 a science, — a game in which only the experi- 

 enced can play. The tenderfoot has had his 

 day. It was a great one, for never was there 

 more easy work than among the great masses 

 of ducks that poured upon our sunny plains 

 in winter. But the granger with his grand- 

 father's gun gave up some years ago, and the 

 tenderfoot, even with the most modern equip- 



