THE OLD SQUAW 361 
ly for the practice and sport which they af- 
ford, oftentimes leaving dead and wounded 
birds to float at the mercy of wind and tide. 
It is at the hands of such butchers as these that 
the myriads of seafowl that once lined our 
coasts have been reduced to the hundredth part 
of their former numbers, for no species, how- 
ever numerous, could stand the drain upon their 
forces resulting from such shooting, and to 
make the matter worse, most are killed in the 
spring flight to the north. I have seen twenty 
boats at a time, each containing from two to 
four shooters, all killing and wounding Squaws, 
and the half of them never troubling to pick up 
a bird, 
Most of the Squaw killing is done over de- 
coys; a string of ‘‘tolers’’ anchored to wind- 
ward of a boat and the gunner only using the 
caution to keep below the gunwale until the 
flock is hovering over the decoys. Another way 
much in favor is to put a line of boats across a 
sound or channel through which the birds are 
accustomed to pass in going to and from their 
feeding grounds, and by anchoring a little more 
than a gunshot apart the birds have no choice 
