134 CUKEITtrCK MARSHES. 



could not save her, however, and when the hoat ap- 

 proached with a gunner ^to complete the deadly work, 

 the poor old swan had to leave her. Still he kept 

 circling round for some time and filling the air with 

 his bitter lamentations. 



In wild fowl shooting it is essential to learn the 

 various calls of the different species of ducks and of 

 the geese and swans. These it is impossible to 

 reproduce on paper, and about all that can be said 

 is that the raft ducks make various modifications 

 of the word " pritt," if it can be called a word ; that 

 the widgeons whistle, the geese honk, and the mal- 

 lards and black-ducks quack. Jesse had a curious 

 way of calling the shoal-water ducks by uttering in 

 rapid succession the word " Kek-kekkek, kek-kek- 

 kek-kek ;" and he seemed to attract them as well as 

 the patent duck-call which I had purchased in the 

 gun store for a dollar. For black-ducks, however, 

 I prefer the manufactured duck-call, and in going 

 out for them, I cannot too strongly imjDress upon the 

 reader the necessity for the utmost caution and the 

 most careful hiding. When shooting at some small 

 pond hole in the middle of the marshes, it is better 

 to only use one or two decoys and to be covered en- 

 tirely, except for a single opening in front, just large 

 ^ough to fire through, overlooking the stools. A 

 single tamed wild duck for this kind of sport is 

 worth all the wooden decoys in the world, and his 

 quack is better than Jesse's ' ' kek " or my "squawk. '" 

 Some gunners can set up the birds they have killed 

 so as to be almost as natural as the living bird, and 



