WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 345 
call of the various species of which he is in pursuit, by 
which he often succeeds in seducing them down from their 
secure elevation, to seek company with his painted wooden 
decoys, and find a speedy death. 
The birds which are most easily called down are the 
Canadian wild geese, the noblest and best of all the tribes 
taken in this fashion, whose loud and sonorous hawnking is 
admirably simulated by many of the amphibious natives of 
the duck-haunted bays, and not a few amateurs. 
The most impracticable of them all is the brant, the 
gabble of which, somewhat resembling the distant clamor 
of a pack of hounds in full ery, is generally said to be 
inimitable to any useful end. 
The skill to be acquired in shooting these birds—for 
getting shots at them, the amateur gunner is compelled to 
rely on the skill and cleverness of his guide or boatman— 
consists only in shooting sufficiently in advance of the 
passing flocks, or in keeping the gun in such continuous 
motion, following up their flight, that the shot shall not 
fall behind them. 
No retriever or dog of any kind is required for this 
sport in the other sea bays, but in the Chesapeake the best 
Newfoundland dogs are used, and are, indeed, imperatively 
necessary. 
In regard to guns, ammunition, and the mode of charg- 
ing, especially in the avoidance of overloading and the use 
of too large shot, the rules prescribed heretofore will be 
found applicable. 
The species of fowl usually killed and most prized, in 
the Atlantic bays and lagoons, are the wild goose, anas 
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