WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 339 



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It is impossible to particularize localities as pre- 

 eminent for this sport where so many are good ; 

 and the swamps, rivers, lakes, cultivated fields, and 

 even open prairies of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michi- 

 gan, Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota, Colorado, Minnesota, 

 and Wyoming, and the Western country generally, 

 abound in their seasons with various descriptions 

 of wild-fowl. An English sportsman, who had 

 spent many years in the West, gave it as his opinion 

 that the best place for all varieties of sport in the 

 world was Southern Minnesota. 



Although the use of a light skiff is always desirable 

 and adds enormously to the comfort of the shooter, 

 circumstances will often arise that will deprive him 

 of its use ; and in such case he has no better re- 

 source than to don his long wading boots, and tramp 

 through the shallow water until he comes to a favor- 

 able spot, perhaps the deserted house of a family 

 of beavers; and there, perched upon its summit and 

 concealed by the surrounding reeds, to resign him- 

 self to the inevitable inconveniences of his position. 

 When his feet grow cold in spite of their india- 

 rubber casing, and his muscles weary for want of 

 rest, he will long for the dry skiff; and when he 

 comes to " back " his load of game — consisting, if 

 he is successful, of geese, canvas-backs, red-heads, 

 mallards, blue-bills, widgeons, and perhaps a swan — 

 across the muddy flats a mile or two to dry land, he 

 will long for it still more intensely. 



For shooting ducks the best weather is dark, or 

 even rainy, as at such times the birds fly closer to 



