FOWL SHOOTING. 
133 
CHESAPEAKE BAY SHOOTING. 
HE Chesapeake Bay, with its tribu 
tary streams,” says he, “ has from its 
discovery, been known as the greatest 
resort of water fowl in the United 
States. This has depended upon the 
profusion of their food, which is ac¬ 
cessible on the immense flats or shoals 
that are found near the mouth of the 
Susquehanna, along the entire length of North-east and Elk 
rivers, and on the shores of the bay and connecting streams, as 
fa: south as York and James rivers. 
“ The quantity of fowl of late years has been decidedly less 
than in times gone by; and I have met with persons who have 
assured me that the number has decreased one-half in the last 
fifteen years. This change has arisen, most probably, from the 
vast increase in their destruction, from the greater number of 
persons who now make a business or pleasure of this sport, as 
well as the constant disturbance they meet with on many of 
their feeding grounds, which induces them to distribute them¬ 
selves more widely, and forsake ^heir usual haunts. 
“ As early as the first and second weeks in October, the 
smaller Ducks, as the Buffel-head, # Anas Albeola ; South-south¬ 
erly, A. glacialis; and the Ruddy or Heavy-tailed Duck, A. Ru- 
bida; begin to show themselves in the upper part of the bay; 
and by the last of the month, the Black-head,f A. marila ; W id- 
* Long-tailed Duck. t Scaup Duck 
