The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1897-11-06

the world-renowned feeding grounds. ayes,
there ought to he good sport, for there's
going to be a light rain and the winds from
the BASTARD and-wel, We'll see.' Every
body saw the rain all right, for from the
moment when the first drops fell % the close
OF the shooting time Monday night, the rain
poured in"essantly and every man who car
ried home bag of ducks earned them. The
weather was good for ducks, also for doctors
and undertakers, and one of the iolIiest of
men on the return trip was n widey-kn
funeral director and he hadn't killed the
most birds either.
fair number of ducks were on the flats,
and of the better sorts blackheads and red
heads were the most numerous. though it
must not be understood by this that they
were oyernumerous. There were many bald
pates and ruddy ducks in proportion. o.
'anvas backs the signs were cheering, for
while they are not expected in large numbers
this early one of the best known gunners on
the Susquehanna, said the representation of
this king of water fowls was sufficient to be
satisfactory under the circumstar ces This
hunter managed to kill three in bag Of
sixty-one birds. His proportion of redheads
was thirteen pairs. but this was considerably
more than most Of the hunters got.
Those who took the Westward berths on the
feeding grounds were unfortunate, for the
STANDS to the eastward proved best and there
was some pretty good shooting on the middle
grounds.
The high boat of the day so far as reported
at Havre de Grace. Monday night. was the
Blooming Lily, Capt. George w. Barnes, in
charter to +. W. Roebling, of Trenton. This
boat il reported to have taken 1876 ducks
Other bags reported were as follows: Joseph
Rosenield, Capt Charles Gallup. GA; G. w.
Bergner, Capt. VIM. Chesney, %; VIM. j.
Latta and George Watmough, Capt. H. J..
Poplar, 70; I. L. Harrison. Capt. Matt Rey-
nolds, 80; VIM. b. Flint. OF New York, Capt.
VIM. Dobson, ITO; L. Madison Mitchell. Yacht
Lily, Capt Thomas, 32; VIM. V. Wilson,
yacht Susquehanna, Capt. II. b. Moore, Ga
the skif Norris, Capt. Walter r. Jackson, 81 :
Sc; The Nautilus, 90.
The waters OF Maryland have many phases
of sunshine and shadow. and even on da,
like Monday, the States great fowlIng ground
Possessed its peculiar interest As the hunter
approached the flats on his craft in the black
ness OF the early morning he could easily
imagine that his boat contained all that there
was of life and animation in tho wide world.
word OF warning is spoken and the helm is
turned, for rising out of the gloom there
comes black giant or two, that glide with
noiseless, ghost-like tread across the water,
and then they are made out to be sails
''Ships that pass in the night"-bound for a
spot from which to cross the line for the
promised land of the sportsman's paradise.
BY this time the wanderer OF the waters
feels that there is something else besides
his own craft and its occupants.
And now lpmp appears on the horizon,
and the expert beside you says something
about "a little early and he peers down
into his cabin, where his clock says it wants
but minute or two of five, the mystic hour
when the law allows the hunter to venture on
his happy hunting ground. But there is II
revelation, for he has scarcely spoken when
up go hundreds of lanterns where all wa
gloom before, and it seems us if some broad
town had been born in Il moment. TIL" soli-
tude is gone in the brief span of a second and
all now seems instict with life and movement.
As the wary hunter lights his pipe you see
him smile as be- catches the sounds from the
wild fowls-some faint chatterng of distant
ducks, and then the whistling of the baIdpatc
and scarce does the hand of the clock
touch five before flash cuts through the
close crashes through the night, rolling and
reverbera.ing through all the hills thai
incloss the mighty headwaters OF the Chesa-
peake
''He got fixed a little too quickly" mutters
the expert ut your side, while the silent man
encased in oilskins, who holds the tllIer says:
'Didn't take long for him to set out his box
and decoys."
Now flashes of light are seen on every side,
the more vvidly owing to the gloon. The
first gun of 1897 starts the carnage. Son e.
times the flash is followed by no sound, for
execution is most certain which speaks barely
above Il whisper.
Dawn soon breaks, as break 1t must on even
a gloomy. rainy day. The dismal night gives
up its place to gray and misty twilight, with
"a background of cold blue hills. Bunches Of
ducks fit by on rapid wing-some, in aerial
rush line, cutting through the air in wedge
formation, but ever changing in the form of
alignment; some rising so high that they seem
to dissolve like a slender curl of black smoke
some falling ever lower and lower, unit:
defrauded by the arts of man. they settle into
stool of decoys, when suddenly rises the
gunner from the treacberous sink box and
| four gun barrels, charged with leuden death,