WILD DUCKS. 809 
splashing about our decoys we poured a heavy volley into 
the densest part, and a score or two more gave their lives 
as a forfeit for their credulous natures. 
When the remainder had fled we launched our boat 
and commenced picking up the slain, while the dogs de- 
voted all their attention to securing the wounded, and 
this they did in the most admirable manner, for they 
often passed birds which were splashing wildly in their 
death struggles, and went after those that were making 
efforts to escape. The ducks would dive on seeing the 
dogs approaching, but the latter were evidently used to 
this stratagem, for they rose, as it were, in the water, 
and turned slowly in a circle, while they carefully 
scanned the surface, and when a bird came up they 
hastened towards it and captured it or sent it down again. 
The chase continued in this manner until nearly all the 
cripples were secured, for the retrievers followed a duck 
until it died on the bottom through suffocation, or it was 
shot by a member of the party. These dogs rushed into 
the water without any orders on seeing a duck fall, but if 
a shot was unsuccessful they remained as still as if they 
were made of cast iron, and hardly blinked their feelings 
of disappointment. We had good shooting at this point 
until ten A. M., but the ducks ceased “‘ trading” after 
that, and settled in vast beds beyond gun range, or sought 
safety in the surrounding morasses. We managed to se- 
cure a few canvas-backs and red-heads by toling them 
towards the shore with a gaily-colored handkerchief which 
was tied to a stick and waved slowly over the blind, but 
the greater number were too cautious to approach within 
gun shot. Our guide told us that he had frequently 
brought them near the land by making one of his re- 
triever puppies gambol along the shore, and related sev- 
eral instances in which he had been unusually successful 
with this trick where all other means of obtaining a shot 
had failed. Having seen this ruse performed more than 
