MORNING MALLARD SHOOTING PALL. 135 



water, and then follow them up until he found 

 them hiding in some old brush-pile or under a log. 



But let us start. It is only a short distance to 

 the river. Just take your gun and the lunch-basket, 

 and I will carry mine and the ammunition. 



There, this is our boat; put down the dunnage, 

 and we'll launch it. Jack, you see, is in his place 

 in the bow as soon as it is in the water. You 

 may sit in the stern. Keep your gun handy, and 

 1 will row; it is not far. What a splendid river 

 this is for boating, isn't it? Straight stretches for 

 miles, and but very little current ; the shores, you 

 see, are quite bare and devoid of weeds, and offer 

 little inducement for the ducks to light along them. 

 A stranger who was not well acquainted with the 

 habits of ducks would little think from the few he 

 might see along the river what multitudes abound 

 in this country. There ! do you see that flock of 

 ducks to the right, away beyond those tall trees? 

 They are mallards, and are now over a favorite 

 feeding-ground of theirs, called by the local hunters 

 here the duck or rice pond. It contains perhaps 

 three hundred acres, water from ten to twenty 

 inches, and mud ten to twenty feet in depth ; 

 almost the entire surface is covered with the 

 dense growth of the wild oats or rice, whose 



