. Prairie and forest: a description of the game of North America, with personal adventures in their pursuit. Hunting; Game and game-birds. DIPPEBS AND DECOY-DUCKS. 279 It is very seldom in winter, during any weather, that sport is not to a certain extent marred by these little beaa- ties, more especially by the dippers, for they are such little rogues, thieves, and impudent withal, that whenever they see decoy-ducks set out they are bound to visit them. The reason they do so is this: they imagine that the imitation birds are a veritable flock of canvas-backs feeding, and they themselves being
. Prairie and forest: a description of the game of North America, with personal adventures in their pursuit. Hunting; Game and game-birds. DIPPEBS AND DECOY-DUCKS. 279 It is very seldom in winter, during any weather, that sport is not to a certain extent marred by these little beaa- ties, more especially by the dippers, for they are such little rogues, thieves, and impudent withal, that whenever they see decoy-ducks set out they are bound to visit them. The reason they do so is this: they imagine that the imitation birds are a veritable flock of canvas-backs feeding, and they themselves being indifferent divers, wait upon the surface for the larger species to bring up the much-prized water- celery, when, before the lately submerged bird has got the water out of his eyes or recovered his breath, the little. PATES. pilferer has purloined fhe fruits of his labor. This is no idle fancy; Audubon vouches for its truth, and I have many times heard it confirmed by persons who spend their lives upon the Chesapeake supplying Baltimore with wild fowl. A cock-dippei', for such is the name the male bird receives, in the parlance of that locality, is truly a beautiful bird, almost rivaling the wood-duck in the brilliancy of his plumage. When he raises his handsome crest he is par- ticularly attractive. For the table dippers are superior to teal, and that is pay- ing them no mean compliment; for who that is an epicure can be ignorant of the delicacy of flavor of the latter ?. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Gillmore, Parker. New York, Harper & Bros.
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgi, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjecthunting
