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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, uniess 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 fine 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, however, 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 
