DUCK-SHOOTING. 345 



The island is not, large, but wherever it is tillable, 

 a garden, orchard, and grapery have been planted, 

 and furnish the household with delicious fruit and 

 vegetables. Quail have been introduced, and, being 

 protected by the regulations of the establishment, 

 have increased and multiplied ; and wild turkeys 

 occasionally commit upon the vines depredations 

 which are condignly punished. It is a lovely spot, 

 far from other habitations, and affords shelter during 

 the fall months to as pleasant a set of sportsmen as 

 can be found the world over. 



The President, with his short figure and grey hair, 

 but sharp, clear eye, was selected for his superior 

 success as a marksman, and rarely returns from a 

 day's excursion without a boat-load of game. The 

 Vice-President and Secretary are the only other 

 officers, and upon their fiat it depends whether any 

 outsider shall trespass upon their inland Paradise. 

 Promiscuous invitations were once extended to the 

 brethren of the gun and rod, but so many spurious 

 counterfeits presented themselves, that a stringent 

 rule had to be adopted to exclude all but the genuine 

 article. 



The shooting lasts from the 1st of September till 

 the chill breath of winter closes the bay and drives 

 the birds to more hospitable localities. It is pursued 

 in a small, light, flat-bottomed boat, similar, on a 

 larger pattern, to the rail-boats used on the Dela- 

 ware. Each boat is provided with a pair of oars 

 working on pins that fit into outriggers ; and also 

 with a long setting-pole, which has a bent wire, like 



