Long-sightedness of the Dog. 103 
after praising him, and making him lie down in the boat 
we got the guns ready, put the steer oar out astern, and 
drifted down to leeward of the birds. A few minutes’ 
steady sculling brought us within range for Hall’s No. 10 
bore with wire cartridges, and a goodly number remained 
on the water, the other barrel of the 10 bore and both: barrels 
of my 12 bore doing further execution as the flight rose, 
When we pulled up to the island, and turned out “the bag,” » 
it amounted to nine ducks and teal. Had it not been for the 
ever-watchful eyes of the dog, that flight of birds would 
certainly have remained unnoticed by us. 
One more instance, in similar circumstances, of keen 
vision on the part of the dog may be cited. On the shores 
of Moreton Bay, twenty miles or so to the south of the 
river Brisbane, was a favourite shooting ground, haunted 
by a few of the more adventurous gunners, who took boat 
and camped out for a week at a time, living on hard biscuit 
and the liberal rations provided by their guns. Some short 
‘distance from the coast were vast stretches of swamp, 
almost impenetrable on account of their boggy character 
and the hosts of bloodthirsty mosquitos. From these swamps 
to the mud flats of the bay large flights of duck were 
continually passing, and, as the tide rose and covered the 
salt water feeding grounds, the birds flew inland again to 
the fresh-water swamps, which were drained by a tidal 
creek of considerable size during floods. Ducks, as every 
gunner knows, have a habit of following the direction of 
water-courses, even when they could make a shorter line 
overland. Some quarter of a mile to the southward of the 
mouth of the creek was a point of land reaching boldly 
out into the bay, and all the birds coming from that 
direction rounded the point before entering the creek, 
where a few low bushes afforded cover enough for the 
sportsman. Behind these I established myself with a 
companion and my retriever, Carlo I., during several suc- 
cessive afternoons, at the rising of the tide, to take the 
