THE MANNER OF KILLING DUCKS AND OTHER FOWL PRACTICED BY THE NATIVES.
In migrating either to the north or south, ducks and other fowl usually fly in large flocks, and generally very low. In order to kill the greatest number, the natives would station themselves at one end of a valley, near the bottom of it; and, if possible, they would conceal themselves from the ducks behind little hillocks. Or if at the termination of a valley there should be a precipitous descent of several feet, the natives would be sure to take their position in such a locality. The fowl usually flew along in valleys running north and south.
Thus stationed, with neither guns, bows, nor arrows, but with a number of small balls in their hands, connected with each other by strings from twelve to eighteen inches in length, they await the approach of their game. When the fowl are sufficiently near for their purpose, the natives rise up, and throw, with singular force and precision, these balls at the flock of passing ducks. At first, when these balls leave their hands, they are all together and compact; but with increasing distance, they will open and spread themselves to the extent of the strings by which they are tied together, and, by the time they get into the midst of the flock, they are fully extended; and then these balls, meeting with resistance, will twist around the necks, legs, and wings of the fowl, and bring them to the ground.
The ducks are killed by the natives, not by cutting off their heads, or breaking their necks, but by pressing the foot upon them until they cease to breathe.