Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-02-21

not q very comfnrtabe-fcelin morning
when lying III the bottom Of Il Wet
tioat, but that is one OF tne trfleS we'll
#cdsonod d duck hunters don't mind The
Great Sands appeared To be fairly
alive with ducks feeding in the wild
rice. We could hear them i'll every
direction. y little further out and the
air Was suddenly filled with Il rumble,
and then Il roar like an earthquake.
ANA we knew the birds had started.
our surprise was greater, however,
when We heard them settle again out
on the cien water. for such a course
was Very unusual.
We worked our way slowly down the
channel, facimS the cold, cutting rain
drops. ana waited for daylight, which
soon can" and brought to us sight
never to be forgotten. Before US was
this liCrlC Of water fowl which pre-
viously had been known to US only by
sound when shielded by darkness. 1t
was beautiful sight. Extending
from the Chops" way up past Brick
Island for more than mile in the
C.thance channel was an unbrokcn
line of Black Ducks, "Lobsters," the
natives call them. They We're there
by the thousands, and appeared to be
almost wholly the large red-legged va
ricty. They We're splashing and
pruning their feathers, rearing them
selves on end and Tapping their wings
ana talking rs only ducks i'll conven-
tion can talk. These very large flocks
do not, rs many suppose. form in one
large, circular mass. but rather in an
Irregular line ana in no place are more
than twenty Or twenty-five birds deep,
often less.
1t IS about impossible to scull such Il
focl; as stray birds are always strag-
cling quite . distance from the main
body. Such are invariably very many
ana rise before the float is within
shooting distance. Rise but one bird
IN such q nock and tho whole bunch is
sure 10 80.
~ it became evident the birds did
not Intend to go 10 sea. We decided to
SOUL them, not that we expected to get
Within range, but with the desire for a
closer Wow. We made for about tile
ccnurr of the long black line ana soon
were within ore hundred and fifty
yards and with our glasses had a grand
view. ~" could see Il few MallarI
Grakc& scattered here ana there. but no
"th"" 'nt'rlopcrs; everything was
l,t1rl Ducks. on we sculol and
were rapidly reducing the distance
when The nearest stragGler jumped.
then those nearest followed ana then
HE antirc tIocI, from end 10 end rose
int" the air with roar that fairly
shoos: tine hay.
n IL" air they separated into de-
ta"hed locks Of from twenty 10 ono
hundred and after circling about for
I'VE minutes again settled in another
section "f the bay, but in the open
W2t1r aS hrfore-ncver III tile grass.
y second time we scullcd them. but
with precisely the same result as be-
fore. We had refrained from firing
"nr guns all this time, the observa-
lions being MI too interesting. Fol-
lowing "ur second attempt the birds
aIi%h'"d near the Chops" again.
Wh'r' d"uhtlegs they would have re-
nAinrd some time had not another
li"at Uut in an appearance whose oc-
ruHaHtS evidently possessed more en-
thHSlASm than good Judgment. for cs-
SAVING z s"ull at the end Of the flock
thc ducks &c course rose several gun
shots away. The grand sight was too
much and they blazed away gun after