He might have paddled about and blazed away to his heart's content.
There is one kind of duck that would undoubtedly have astonished him, and which would have slightly bothered the punt gun for an elevation: this is the tree duck, which flies about and perches in the branches of the lofty trees like any nightingale.

This has an absurd effect, as a duck looks entirely out of place in such a situation.

I have seen a whole cluster of them sitting on one branch, and when I first observed them I killed three at one shot to make it a matter of certainty.
It is a handsome light brown bird, about the size of an English widgeon, but there is no peculiar formation in the feet to enable them to cling to a bough; they are bona fide ducks with the common flat web foot.
A very beautiful species of bald-pated coot, called by the natives keetoolle, is also an inhabitant of the lakes.

This bird is of a bright blue color with a brilliant pink horny head.

He is a slow flyer, being as bulky as a common fowl and short in his proportion of wing.
It is impossible to convey a correct idea of the number and variety of birds in these localities, and I will not trouble the reader by a description which would be very laborious to all parties; but to those who delight in ornithological studies there is a wild field which would doubtless supply many new specimens.
I know nothing more interesting than the acquaintance with all the wild denizens of mountain and plain, lake and river.