248 DUSKY DUCK. 



As it is attached to particular feeding grounds, and returns to them until 

 greatly molested, you may, by secreting yourself within shooting distance, 

 anticipate a good result; for even although shot at, it will reappear several 

 times in succession in the course of a few hours, unless it has been wounded. 

 The gunners in the vicinity of Boston, in Massachusetts, who kill great 

 numbers of these birds, on account of the high price obtained for them in 

 the line market of that beautiful and hospitable city, procure them in the 

 following manner: — They keep live decoy Ducks of the Mallard kind, 

 which they take with them in their floats or boats. On arriving at a place 

 which they know to be suitable, they push or haul their boat into some 

 small nook, and conceal it among the grass or rushes. Then they place 

 their decoys, one in front of their ambush, the rest on either side, each 

 having a line attached to one of its feet, with a stone at the other end, by 

 which it is kept as .if riding at anchor. One of the birds is retained in the 

 boat, where the gunner lies concealed, and in cold weather amply covered 

 with thick and heavy clothing. No sooner is all in order, than the decoy 

 Ducks, should some wild birds appear, sound their loud call-notes, anxious 

 as they feel to be delivered from their sad bondage. Should this fail to pro- 

 duce the desired effect of drawing the Wild Ducks near, the poor bird in the 

 boat is pinched on the rump, when it immediately calls aloud; those at 

 anchor respond, and the joint clamour attracts the travellers, who now check 

 their onward speed, wheel several times over the spot, and at last alight. 

 The gunner seldom waits long for a shot, and often kills fifteen or twenty of 

 the Black Ducks at a single discharge of his huge piece, which is not unfre- 

 quently charged with as much as a quarter of a pound of powder and three 

 quarters of a pound of shot! 



The Black Ducks generally appear in the sound of Long Island in Sep- 

 tember or October, but in very cold weather proceed southward; while those 

 which breed in Texas, as I have been informed, remain there all the year. 

 At their first arrival they betake themselves to the fresh-water ponds, and 

 soon become fat, when they afford excellent eating; but when the ponds are 

 covered with ice, and they are forced to betake themselves to estuaries or 

 inlets of the sea, their flesh becomes less juicy and assumes a fishy flavour. 

 During continued frost they collect into larger bodies than at any other time, 

 a flock once alighted seeming to attract others, until at last hundreds of them 

 meet, especially in the dawn and towards sunset. The larger the flock how- 

 ever, the more difficult it is to approach it, for many sentinels are seen on 

 the look-out, while the rest are asleep or feeding along the shores. Unlike 

 the "Sea Ducks," this species does not ride at anchor, as it were, during its 

 hours of repose. 



My friend, the Reverend Dr. John Bachman, assures me that this bird, 



