FOWL SHOOTING. 
143 
of large flocks, or beds of Ducks, whilst they are feeding, and 
with a tremendous piece, mounted on a swivel in the bow, 
slaughter immense numbers, often killing eighty or an hundred 
at a shot. This mode of destroying them is restricted by legis¬ 
lative acts, under severe penalties; but the difficulty of captur¬ 
ing or convicting these poachers is such, that most of them 
escape the penalties of the law, and pursue their unhallowed 
avocation, notwithstanding the greatest efforts to apprehend 
them ; and their only punishment is the repeated anathemas and 
just indignation of all true sportsmen. 
“ There is another mode that is sometimes practised, which, 
though not quite so objectionable as the last, is seldom resorted 
to by gentlemen that shoot for pleasure, and is not permitted on 
grounds belonging to clubs. It is called ‘ toling.’ A small dog, 
about the size and color of a Red Fox, is made to gambol upon 
the shore, playing with sticks or stones that are tossed towards 
him from the gunners, who are lying concealed by a blind. 
The attention of a flock of Ducks that may be feeding within 
the distance of one hundred, or two hundred yards, is soon ar¬ 
rested, and they are simultaneously attracted by the antics of 
the dog, and with one accord swim rapidly toward the shore, as 
if charmed.” 
The only kind of wild fowl shooting which now remains to 
be described, is one very little practised in this country. I 
mean what is usually called punt-shooting, with a stanchion or 
swivel-gun of enormous size. This mode has been adopted on 
the Chesapeake, but the use of the large gun is so unpopular, 
that it has been necessarily abandoned. On the Hudson, a gun¬ 
ning punt of this kind is used by one gentleman, who kills im¬ 
mense quantities of Ducks, with perfect success. 
The best dimensions for a gun of this kind are stated by 
Colonel Hawker—with whom this is, of all others, the favorite 
kind of shooting—to be, length of barrel from seven to nine 
feet; bore from one inch and a quarter, to one inch and a half; 
weight from seventy to eighty pounds. The barrel should not 
