186 GAME SHOAL-WATER FOWL. 



ponds or sloughs whose slimy, stagnant waters 

 are filled with the dense growth of weeds and 

 mosses; but are seldom or never met with in 

 ponds or streams having gravelly or sandy bot- 

 toms. The common method of hunting them is 

 similar to that described under the heads of 

 morning and evening mallard-shooting, but great 

 numbers are killed by stealing upon them silently 

 when feeding. A very slight blow brings them 

 down, and, as they usually sit quite close together, 

 as many as fifteen or twenty are often killed 

 at a single discharge of a common shoulder gun. 

 Being tamer and less wary than most other 

 water-fowl, they may be easily approached with 

 ordinary caution. Small shot should be used for 

 shooting them, No. 7 or 8 being the proper 

 size. They may be readily called by imitating 

 their notes properly,, which are very similar in 

 character and expression to those of the mallard, 

 but shorter and pitched higher, such as a mal- 

 lard of the same size and proportionately feeble 

 constitution might be supposed to make. They 

 never appear to be suspicious of decoys, but drop 

 amongst them immediately without hesitation. And 

 as they are always found in shallow water, the dead 

 ones may be set up for decoys, as described on 



