1889
Feb. 20
Banana River, Florida.
Cloudy with high N.E. wind all day. Occasional heavy showers.
  We started from the vessel about 8 a.m. taking
different directions, C. going with the captain in
one boat to hunt some distant creeks, I taking
Anderson with the other boat and building a
stand on a point near where we shot yesterday.
The wind was blowing on shore and Ducks
were flying thickly. For a little while I had
lively shooting , then it slacked and Ducks
flew at wide intervals only. I kept Anderson
out with the boat stirring them up and
in this way got many shots. I stayed in
the stand all day leaving it about 5 p.m.
During this time I fired about sixty shots
knocking down about twenty five birds of
which I lost a number of wing-broken ones.
getting only eighteen in all. Of these, one was
a Ring-neck, the others Scaups of both species,
F. marila predominating. I also bagged a Willet.
Many of my shots were long ones but in
spite of this I missed a great many fair chances.
The trigger guard cut my finger badly yesterday
and it was so tender this morning that
I flinched at nearly every shot. Most of
the birds that came in to the three decoys were
singles but I had several chances at doubles
and made one right & left successfully.
  There were very many birds flying. I
saw besides thousands of Scaups & Coots about
twenty Anas fulvigula, two Spatula clypeata
(I wounded one of them, a fine female, badly), one