THE CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 329 
to within thirty or forty yards their curiosity is generally 
satisfied, and after swimming up and down for a few 
seconds, they retrograde to their former station. The 
moment to shoot is while they present theif sides, and 
forty or fifty ducks have often been killed by a sinall 
gun.” 
It is said that the tendency to overshoot large, solid 
flocks is so great that the oldest and best shots reconi- 
mend that the nearest duck be brought into full relief 
above the sight, when your shot will rake the mass. To 
prevent the ¢oling dogs from breaking, other dogs, 
crossed between the Newfoundland and water-spaniel, 
are used, which display even more sagacity than the 
tolers, crouching when the ducks come in, and springing 
up eagerly at the discharge, in order to mark its effect. 
During a flight of fowl, these retrievers are said inces- 
santly to watch the quarter of the heavens whence the 
fowl are flying, and to indicate their approach by rest- 
lessness of manner long before the human eye can detect 
them. c 
This toling is not, however, regarded by good and 
great duck-shots as a very legitimate or sportsmanlike 
method, and though the sagacity of the dogs, and the 
gradual approach of the ducks in a way so curious must’ 
give an interest and excitement to the business, it must 
be confessed that blazing away into solid, stationary 
masses of thousands cannot be compared to shooting on 
the wing. 
