198 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
March 9, 1895. 
THE CEDAR POINT DUCKING CLUB. 
A glance at the map of Maryland will show that the 
southern end of the county of Kent is washed by the 
waters of the Chesapeake in the west and by those of 
the broad mouth of the Chester River on the East. The 
last square mile of this county is an island, known as 
East Neck Island, and on the river side of it, a mile or so 
in from the bav, is a triangular point of land bounded by 
the river's numerous bends; and by a large creek, which 
in the north or west would be at once dignified as a 
river. This point is named Cedar Point, and here are the 
headquarters of the Cedar Point Ducking Club, famous 
for its fine shooting of ducks, geese, and swan; and 
equally famous in being composed of gentlemen of the 
county, true knighta of the trigger. 
On Tuesday morning, Feb. 5, of the late memorable 
blizzard week, it was my happy privilege to leave the 
county town, for the twenty-three miles drive down to 
the club; with my host, William S. Walker, Esq., the 
Nimrod of the club, and a gentleman of the old school. 
It's a well-known adage that "a Mary lander is born in 
the saddle;" and from the way they handle them I 
strongly suspect they are given miniature shot-guns for 
rattles in their cradles. My host was no exception, for 
though the frosts of sixty winters have whitened his gen- 
erous locks; woe betide the luckless canvasback that 
draws in to try her flirtatious wiles on some old drake 
decoy; the result is: ''Here, Toller! bring her here, sir! 
Good dog!" and the club's idol, the best dog in the Chesa- 
peake, drops the still warm bird at your feet, giving you 
an impromptu shower bath in return for your welcome 
pat on his broad, massive head. 
Scarcely had we reached the end of our journey and 
transferred our traps and provisions from the buggy to 
the club house, when we heard the welcome voice of an- 
other member; and soon the door-way was filled up with 
the full six feet two of Walter Strong, Esq., a splendid 
specimen of the bone and sinew of old Maryland. De- 
lightedly we grasped his hand, for we well know that his 
enterprising spirit, fertile resources and inimitable duck 
and swan calls; coupled with his ever-readiness to do the 
work of two, would make the trip a success. Hastily 
eating a "native" biscuit or two, with a slice of cold 
chine — my mouth waters as I write— we grasped our ten- 
bores and made for the Cedar Point blind to see how the 
land lay. Our trip had been planned for "sod" shooting, 
especially at black ducks that are driven out of the 
marshes by the ice, and linger around the shores for a 
day or two following the first tight freeze. On reaching 
the blind we found the river nearly solid with ice, there 
being only a few air holes here and there, with their wel- 
come black dots; while off in the distance toward Kent 
Island a line' of black, and a longer line of white, pro- 
claimed geese and swan respectively; whom we hoped 
"to see later." 
After an hour or so in the blind and^nothing flying, 
about 2.30 P. M., we determined to return to the house 
for an early supper and thus be in condition to pay our 
proper respects to the black ducks when they came in at 
night. Ah! ye pampered sons of luxury and other dys- 
peptics! What wouldn't ye have given for our appetites! 
Shades of the Roman gourmand! the asbestos roofing of 
your mouth would have been warped and blistered by the 
dishes of hot coffee we quaffed; while a bull boom was 
threatened in Chicago by the amount of provisions con- 
sumed. All good things come to an end only too soon; 
and as our pipes did the same we prepared ourselves for 
the Arctic blasts outside and were soon on our way back 
to the same blind. Despite our care and caution in ap- 
proaching we put up a flock of -twenty black ducks near 
shore, which nearly caused us to set fire to the marsh by 
our remarks. 
Walter now crept out carefully to reconnoiter and soon 
we see him sink down slowly and come crawling back to 
us. "Holy Moses! there's a bunch of about thirty black 
ducks huddled up on the ice around near the point, not 
ten yards from shore, and we'll whale 'em." "Will you 
two go after them," said Mr. Walker, "and I'll stay liere 
for a possible point shot. ' ' 
Out we go on a detour through the marsh; the wind 
blowing a gentle breeze of forty miles to the hour, in a 
direction fortunate^ between us and the ducks; and the 
mercury making faces at zero. I must say I had enjoyed 
many pleasanter weeks. "Treading on eggs" as we ap- 
proach their immediate vicinity, Walter at length 
straightened himself up as one lets out an old-fashioned 
telescope to locate them. "There they are," he whis- 
pers, and as I raise my head up from between my knees, 
he points them out to my eager gaze not thirty yards off. 
Moving a little to the right for a more raking shot at a 
given signal we let them "have it," and as they rise en- 
core them again. Off they go as only a black cluck can 
do it. but, unfortunately, not in Mr. Walker's direction. 
We picked up seven black ducks, two sprigtails and one 
bald-pate; and if we had shot No. 4s instead of Bs an- 
ticipating having to shoot them further off, we would 
have bagged half instead of a third of the bunch. Gath- 
ering them up we placed them, and some sods, out on the 
ice to decoy; and did it only too well, as will appear later. 
Night was rapidly coming on, and nothing coming in 
to us, we thought we would go over and see how Mr. 
Walker was doing; especially as we had seen the flash of 
his gun three or four times, and though only a hundred 
yards or so from us, so strong was the wind that not a 
sound of the report could we hear. Sure enough, there in 
the ice around him lay three black ducks, single shots. 
"Just look at that," says Walter, pointing to our sods, 
and in the dusk we could see a big bunch settle into them; 
"don't that beat the devil." It certainly did. Out we 
go anticipating another ten strike, and safely reach the 
place where we "whaled 'em" before. For the life of us 
we could not make out which were live and which were 
dead ducks. And while trying to determine, their keen 
eyes must have seen us silhouetted against the rising 
moon, for our next look showed they were gone. Fear- 
ing that more night shooting might drive them away, 
thus spoiliug next morning's sport, all hands now left for 
the house; where, after cleaning up guns, we settle down 
to pipes and pleasant reminiscences; turning in at 9.30. 
"Five o'clock, gentlemen!" calls out Sam, the club's 
factotum, as he builds the morning fire. Thunder and 
Mars! how cold it was, and what wouldn't one give for 
an hour's more snooze, However, it must be done, and 
out we climb. A hot breakfast dispatched, the first 
streaks of a bitter dawn find us on our way to the mouth 
of the creek behind. 
"There they are!" whispers Walter, pointing to the 
edge of yesterdav's air hole, now hard ice. "No! that's 
not ducks," I whisper back. "Yes it is, hush! be care- 
ful," he exclaims, as his quick ear caught a sound mine 
did not, "I heard, a goose honk right around the bend 
here, and he must be sitting on the ice up the creek, near 
the middle blind." Just then, honk! honk! honk! as if 
all the. geese in all the farmers yards of the county were 
gathered in our immediate vicinity. "By Jove, there's 
a flock of them; run quick or they will be "off." says Wal- 
ter, setting us an example to the word. Right here we 
made the mistake of our lives, in the shooting line, by 
not stopping an instant and determining what we should 
do when they came in sight. On we ran on our way to 
the middle blind, as far as it was safe to do, when down 
we got and crawled out to the edge of the marsh, fringed 
with tall bay bushes and flags. There on the ice, not 
thirty' yards from us, as close together as the fingers on 
your hands, sat over a hundred geese, all honking, and 
pluming themselves, previous to their morning's flight. 
I'll bet the camera then would have shown my eyes as 
big as saucers, and big saucers at that. There we were 
crouching; a cocked gun in our hands; and 5 drs. back 
of 1 1-4 oz. of three Bs — waiting to be let loose. Where, 
oh. where, was Mr. Walker? Back thirty yards on the 
marsh crouching at "Mark." What evil genius possessed 
that bunch of black ducks to go out of the creek at this 
instant; and caused him, in the dull gray of the morn- 
ing, to mistake them for the geese on the wing. Still the 
geese sat on. Catching his eye, we nearly threw our 
arms out of their sockets in beckoning him on. After 
what seemed an age he reached us. And still the geese 
sat on. Instead of shooting them through the bushes and 
thus making sure of at least a pair apiece, we moved out 
toward the open path, Walter, I and Mr. Walker. The 
first square inch of the head man had not appeared in 
the path before the air was full of the worst scared flock 
of geese the State, held. What was the result? Let me 
tell it gently. 1 can (italicize can) hit a flock of barns, 
even when on the wing; and I stoutly deny having the 
buck-ague; bivt do you know, looking at that flock of 
geese so long made my eyes diseased; they were covered 
with goose-flesh; I couldn't see 'em, so I didn't hit a 
feather. I spoiled Mr. Walker's shot by being in front 
of him. Walter had his old muzzle-loading 8 ga. along 
with him carrying a flask of powder and a half-bag of 
buckshot. He brought down two with the first barrel, 
and forgot to shoot the second in laughing at me. There 
was no use crying. Explanations availed not. The op- 
portunity was gone but it was the golden one in the fif- 
teen years' history of the club. 
Toller quickly brought the two Canada's in off the ice; 
and we sadly wended our way out, bound for the Cedar 
Point blind for any shooting that might be had at ducks 
trading up and clown the river. We put out sods; the 
two dead geese; also a couple of swan decoys and re- 
sumed our stations in the blind; still talking of "the 
might have been." 
May be it wasn't cold that morning. Our mustaches 
were soon a solid mass of ice; and it felt generally as if it 
might be four thousand degrees below zero. In fact, it 
was below zero. At nine o'clock my two companions 
left to get thawed out at the house. On their return 
Walter suggested that he and I should break a hole in the 
ice up the creek and put out a few decoys for "brass 
eyes." "All right! but it's rny turn for a thaw out." So 
leaving Mr. Walker on guard, we tramped back to the 
house. Discussing the hole in the ice question on our ar- 
rival at the creek, we concluded to wait until evening 
for black ducks; and walked around on the ice toward 
Mr. Walker. Coming within hailing distance of him, he 
shouted: "Look here!" as he proudly held a swan up by 
its neck, its head being on a level with his own and its 
tail touching the ground. "By thunder!" exclaims W., 
"he's got a swan, bet he killed him with my big gun." 
"No, I didn't, either," he answered, overhearing him; "I 
killed him with mine, it's good enough," as he patted his 
trusty old ten-bore — and then for particulars. 
It appears we had not reached the house before he saw 
the swan coming right on to him over Hail Point, only 
twenty yards high. On it came, and noticing the swan 
decoys, and geese drew in beautifully, and when abreast 
of him about forty yards out, he rose on it, and — his gun 
capped. One chance left, thought the imperturbable old 
veteran, as he carefully sighted the bird's craw for his 
second barrel. The winged arrow of Fate flew not 
straighter than did the double T's from his steady shoul- 
der; and down dropped the bird sixty -five yards off. 
What a magnificent creature it was! White as the driven 
snow, with scarcely a tinge of orange in the eye corner, 
proclaiming it a young bird. The weight was twenty 
pounds. Heartily sve congratulated him, and set the swan 
out on the ice with the other decoy^s. 
"Mark!" I cried, "up the river." "What is it?" "Geese 
I think?" as the distant line came slowly onward. "No, 
they are swan," says Walter, as they approach nearer; 
and faster our pulses beat in consequence. On they 
come, their long necks stretched out straight as yard 
sticks; and their immense wings flapping in regular 
cadence. Out from Walter's throat comes the low, soft, 
sweet call to them, and back come their answering notes. 
Call and answer, call and answer, until a blind man 
might have thought a swan was beside him; so perfectly 
did he imitate them. Suddenly they swerve off (too 
many sods we think), and held their course down the 
river, still answering W. 's call until the distance drowns 
it. Rising from our knees we sadly watch them fade out 
of sight. 
Apropos of swan calling, while we were alone in the 
blind that afternoon, a bunch of nine swan came down 
the river within two hundred yards of me. Rendered 
desperate by seeing them not inclined to decoy; and 
knowing my stiff, pasteboard throat never could get out 
their note, I gave them the "loon call" used in sea fowl 
shooting "down East." The effect was ludicrous; for 
the hind swan was so badly scared he instantly took the 
lead of the flock, and they had a "go-as-you-please" in 
getting off. 
The day passed with no further incident. Thursday, 
the blizzard day, found us at dawn in the mouth of the 
creek blind. We had broken a hole in the ice the night 
previous, but the heavy frost had closed it tight. Re- 
opening it and shoving the broken cakes of ice under the 
solid ice we threw out a few blackhead decoys and took 
our places in the blind, I in the center. "Mark! a little 
bunch of four brass eye blackheads," and as they drew in 
nicely over the decoys. I, as center gun, promptly out 
down the middle pair with my first barrel, thus vindi- 
cating my assertion regarding the barns. In about an 
hour or so we had bagged fourteen or fifteen ducks, when 
the snow set in in such a determined manner that we 
decided to give it up. A very judicious move it proved, 
or we might have been there yet. Regretfully we re- 
turned to the house, originally intending to stay until 
the following Saturday". After a hasty luncheon we 
gathered our traps and game together; the latter making 
a brave show, and draining a stirrup cup to the long life 
and prosperity of the Cedar Point Ducking Club, turned 
our horses heads homeward. J. L. B. 
RESCUING THE PERISHING. 
Not since the terrible winter of 1857 has Central Vir- 
ginia been visited by such continuously severe weather, 
as that which prevailed during the first weeks of Febru- 
arys, It culminated on the 7th and 8th in one of the 
deepest snows and bitterest cold-spells which ever blight- 
ed the "Sunny South." The suffering and destruction of 
wild birds and. animals has been pitiful to behold, and 
long will it be before they can recover from its effects. 
The chief sufferers have been the mocking bird, cardinal 
red bird, lark, white-throated sparrow, blue bird, swamp 
sparrow, wood lark, and last, but not least, the wild 
turkey and "Bob White. " 
It is strange, Mr. Editor, that as many people as there 
are who are delighted at the notes of these sweet song- 
sters, which add so much to the charm of our homes, and 
afford us so much pleasure as sportsmen, there are so few 
who havf the will and energy , or compassion for animal 
suffering, to induce them to take the small pains neces- 
sary- to prevent these little creatures from perishing. 
Fortunately for me, myjbrotber lives near, on one of the 
old "plantations." and m him I found an able and will- 
ing hand to join in humane efforts to save the birds. 
As soon as the great storm was over, we went out on 
horseback, each with a bag of wheat, to carry food to 
the poor freezing and starving "Bob White" and upon 
this errand of mercy we spent the entire of that and sub- 
sequent days. We rode over a large district of country 
and saw, on all sides, the fatal effects of the storm and 
cold. We found thirteen coveys, many of them contain- 
ing a dozen or more individuals, but all in a more or less 
deplorable condition. Many were so chilled through that 
they could not fly; and some we brought home, but all 
such died. Wherever we could place the wheat so that 
they could get food at once, they would revive to a re- 
markable degree, but most frequently they would fly at 
our approach and scatter, and many perished before they 
could get together again and find the food. A few flocks, 
however, soon found the grain, and many of these we 
have saved. 
We found many of the flocks by hearing their whistle. 
At first we supposed they were separated, and were en- 
deavoring to get together; but, when found, they would 
be all huddled together in the deep snow. Their plain- 
tive note was a cry of distress. Ihey were freezing and 
starving; and as, when in their brief experience, they 
had been separated by hawks and huntsmen, and their 
relentless enemies, Natme had taught them to utter that 
call which would bring to them the old henmotherto get 
them food and shelter, so now, in their dire distress, it 
was their appeal for help. Oh, that they could have 
known that we were friends coming to them to help and 
feed th«m in their sore distress, and so calm the fresh 
fears which the very sight of us awakened in their timid 
little hearts, that they might see and run to the food 
before it should be covered up by the drifting enow! But 
no, their experience told them that man was the most 
cruel and pitiless of all their foes. The hawk would 
swoop down upon them, but when its hunger was ap- 
peased would not molest them. Man kills and cripples and 
finds pleasure in the infinite misery he inflicts upon the 
innocent and helpless, and his cruelty is never satisfied. 
And so they saw but the climax of their woes in our pre- 
sence, and would flutter away to die. 
No day's sport, on which we have returned home with 
well-filled game bags, have ever given as much gratifica- 
tion as the time we spent in our endeavors to carry relief 
to these among the gentlest and most harmless of God's 
creation. And it is sad to think that when spring and 
summer shall come again, the balmy air, and flowers and 
verdure shall take the place of frost and snows, we will 
surely miss their cheery notes in many a shady nook, 
where they were wont, from morning until night, to 
gladden our hearts. M, OF Northside. 
I have just got in from New Orleans, having been gone 
several weeks "there and beyond. Where I went, out in 
the Teohe country, were thousands of our northern birds 
awaiting their time to come home and breed, robins, 
bluebirds, blackbirds or purple grakcles and others, and 
one could but notice a certain homesick feeling in them. 
The robins did not sing; and the blackbirds had a lit- 
tle melancholy chattering warble, but no clear whistle 
like with us. All were ^ery tame, so much so we could 
almost handle them. Perhaps the cold weather and snow 
causing lack of food was the cause. The poor wild cattle 
lay in bunches, and singly along the prairie, dead, for it 
takes but slight cold weather to kill these half -starved 
creatures. It was a pitiful sight. I happened to be in 
New Orleans when they had the ten inches of snow and 
business and traffic were completely paralyzed. The 
streets were almost impassable and every one became a 
child and snowballeL I got my first cold of the winter 
there, for no fires could be had to avail anything even at 
the hotel. Reignolds. 
Baltimore, Md., Feb. 22. — The hard winter has ruined 
duck-shooting in this State, as the rivers are still full of 
ice. At Havre de Grace there is a great ice gorge and it 
will take a long warm spell to start it moving. Even 
after the ice goes out the melting snow from the mount- 
ains will run into the river and make such a current that it 
will be late in the spring before we will have any shoot- 
ing. Reports from all parts of the State show that the 
quail have suffered terribly and in many places coveys 
of twelve and fifteen have been found Irozen to death. 
Many clubs are now purchasing coops of birds from the 
South and turning them loose to replenish the stock. 
William L. Stiles, 
