WILD DUCKS, 277 
day, when the ducks have ceased trading, whereas the 
latter must remain idle during that time or be content 
with pot-shots at a vagrant goose or canard. 
The principal wild-fowling stations on the Atlantic 
Coast are Brigantine, Barnegat, Currituek, and Havre de 
Grace, the latter being the headquarters of those profes- 
sional wild-fowlers who use sink-boxes on the Chesapeake 
Bay, which is by far the best duck ground on the eastern 
part of the Continent. About forty of these men at 
Havre de Grace pay a license of twenty dollars a year for 
the privilege of using sink-boxes on the river during legal. 
ized days, which are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 
after the first of November until the season closes ir 
March. The outfit of these men generally consists of ¢ 
small sailing sloop, ranging from thirty to fifty feet ix 
length, a flat-bottomed rowboat, a sink-box, and fron 
three hundred to five hundred decoys. It requires al 
least three men to handle one of these outfits properly 
hence, each vessel is a little hunting colony in itself. 
Some of the wild-fowlers live aboard their boats through. 
out the season, but others do not go aboard until the 
night before the shooting is permitted, and then they 
cannot go to the grounds before three A. M., nor cax 
they commence work until an hour before sunrise. They 
are allowed to fire away, however, until half an hour afte: 
sunset, provided their sink-boxes are half a mile fron 
the shore; if they are not, the owners are liable to bi 
arrested and fined or imprisoned. Several craft ancho: 
within half a mile of the shore during the night, anc 
when the clock strikes three, the crews make preparation: 
for the labors of the day by ‘‘planting” the decoys a 
soon as it is light enough to do so, and sinking thei 
boxes. It takes three men about an hour to complet 
this preliminary work, and when that is done it is abou 
time to commence shooting. 
The boxes are mostly single, that is, only one man cai 
