292 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 
destruction is the ‘‘night reflector,” which consists of a 
large reflector placed behind a naptha lamp, and mounted 
on the bow of a boat. The pot-hunters who use this row 
out into the stream where the ducks are bedded for the 
night, and the poor creatures, becoming fascinated by its 
glare, swim towards it from every direction, and strike 
against the boat in their efforts to come as near it as they 
can. When they are massed together the pot-hunters 
open fire upon them, and keep it up until they have flown 
beyond range. The number slaughtered depends, of 
course, on the calibre of the weapon used, but from 
twenty to forty per round is an ordinary bag. These 
men may succeed in getting into a dozen beds during the 
night, so the havoc they commit may be readily inferred. 
I have heard that two of them killed fifteen hundred be- 
tween the hours of seven P. M. and three A. M. with 
four guns, while the largest number I ever heard of being 
killed from sneak-boxes during the day by two men, 
armed with six guns, was five hundred and sixteen. This 
wholesale system of assassination is, of course, execrated 
by sportsmen, and even by those who liberally supply 
themselves and their neighbors with wild-fowl. Many do 
not hesitate to express their feelings about it in the most 
forcible manner, when they have an opportunity, by 
planting a load of shot in the body of the nefarious ‘‘fire- 
hunter.” Shooting from blinds is considered legitimate 
sport, and when the ducks are abundant a person ought 
to have all the amusement he wants behind these. The 
canvas-backs are shot over decoys, which are often placed 
on their feeding grounds, the sportsmen being under 
cover; but on streams and lakes they are frequently 
sculled or sailed upon in flat boats, covered with reeds or 
bushes, and fired upon as they rise. 
Like the remainder of the family, the canvas-backs are 
more restless and active in wet or murky than in fine 
weather, and it is at such times that the largest bags are 
