FOWL SHOOTING. 
141 
balls so often, that bis expeditions are at present confined to the 
night. Sailing with a stiff breeze upon the Geese and Swans, 
or throwing rifle balls from the shore into their beds, is some¬ 
times successful. 
“ Moonlight shooting has not been a general practice, but as 
these birds are in motion during light nights, they could readily 
be brought within range by ‘ honking’ them when flying. This 
sound is very perfectly imitated at Egg Harbor; and I have 
seen Geese drawn at a right angle from their course by this 
note. They can indeed be made to hover over the spot, and if 
a captive bird was employed, the success would become certain. 
“ Notwithstanding the apparent facilities that are offered of 
success, the amusement of Duck shooting is probably one of the 
most exposing to cold and wet; and those who undertake its 
enjoyment, without a courage ‘screwed to the sticking point/ 
will soon discover that ‘ to one good a thousand ills oppose/ 
It is indeed no parlor sport, for after creeping through mud and 
mire, often for hundreds of yards, to be at last disappointed, and 
stand exposed on points to the 4 pelting rain, or more than 
freezing cold/ for hours, without even the promise of a shot, 
would try the patience of even Franklin’s ‘ glorious nibbler/ 
It is, however, replete with excitement and charm. To one who 
can enter on the pleasure with a system formed for polar cold, 
and a spirit to endure ‘ the weary toil of many a stormy day/ 
it will yield a harvest of health and delight that the ‘roamer of 
the woods’ can rarely enjoy. 
“ Although this faT-famed bird was named by its discoverer 
after the plant Valisneria Americana , on which it partially feeds 
when on fresh waters, its subsistence is by no means dependent 
upon that species, which indeed is not extensively distributed, 
but is chiefly derived from the grass-wrack, or eel-grass, Zostera 
marina , which is very abundant on the shallows and flats along 
the whole sea-coast. Its flesh seems to me not generally much 
superior to that of the Pochard, or Red-head, which often min¬ 
gles in the same flocks; and both species are very frequently 
promiscuously sold in the markets as Canvass-backs.” 
