':Ji^ 



Some of his hunting ways are most curi- , 

 ous. One winter day, in prowling along 

 the beach, I approached the spot where, Snoanr Visifors 

 a day or two before, I had been shooting ^^7^ 

 whistlers (golden-eye ducks) over decoys. 

 The blind had been made by digging a 

 hole in the sand. In the bottom was an 

 armful of dry seaweed, to keep one's toes 

 warm ; and just behind the stand was the 

 stump of a ship's mainmast, the relic of 

 some old storm and shipwreck, cast up by 

 the tide. 



A commotion of some kind was going on 

 in the blind as I drew near. Sand and sea- 

 weed were hurled up at intervals, to be 

 swept aside by the wind. I dropped out of 

 sight into the dead beach grass to watch 

 and listen. Soon a white head and neck 

 bristled up from behind the old mast, every 

 feather standing straight out ferociously. 

 The head was perfectly silent a moment, 

 listening ; then it twisted completely round, 

 so as to look in every direction. A moment 

 later it had disappeared, and the seaweed 

 was flying again. 



