WARINESS OF THE BLACK DUCK. 273 
large (more so than mallard) and very powerfully built, 
they can carry away an enormous deal of shot. , 
I can well remember a circumstance illustrative of this. 
There was a marsh close to my head-quarters last year. 
- To while away the afternoon, I took my gun, and, with my 
landlord, started to explore some open water reported about 
a mile from home; for the late frosts had been severe, and all 
places that did not possess a rapid current were ice-locked. 
The early portion of our tramp had been extremely un- 
profitable, but as we were crossing a narrow creek on the 
most unstable of bridges, temporarily constructed of fence- 
rails purloined from the arable land of a neighboring farm- 
er,a brace of black duck flushed within twenty yards of us. 
My companion, as he was holding on by the skin of his 
teeth to escape a ducking, could not shoot. I, who was 
situated in a less precarious position, could; so, making a 
violent effort to pull myself together, I put in both barrels; 
the first shot told its execution by cutting out a handful of 
feathers, the second by dropping the object at which I aim- 
ed it stone-dead. However, the wounded bird went off 
with such velocity and power, that but little hope was en- 
tertained of recovering it; and as its retreating form grad- 
ually diminished in the distance, remarks to that effect 
passed between us, although both continued to gaze after 
it as long as its retreating form was in view. My friend’s 
sight being better than mine, some seconds after I had 
turned my attention to other matters, informed me that 
my bird was down, and he thought he could find it. After 
a long and troublesome détour we reached the place, and 
the retriever recovered it in a few minutes. On examina- 
tion, there was not a shot in the head, but the body was 
riddled to such an extent as to induce one to surmise how 
it was possible for the machinery of the body to work un- 
der such circumstances. 
12* 
