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Duck and Drake

This is a very simple sport, but necessarily restricted to those spots where there is a river, or a pond of some magnitude. It consists in throwing oyster-shells, flat stones, or broken tiles along the water, so as to make them hop as often as possible. One hop is called Dick, the second Duck, and the third Drake. The sea-shore is a capital place for this sport, as, if the player can only succeed in making the stone touch the top of a wave, it is tolerably certain to make a succession of hops from wave to wave. If a rifle-bullet is shot along the water, it will go a great distance, making very long hops, and water at every bound. In war, this method of firing at splashing up the an enemy that lies low is extensively made use of, and is called "ricochet practice." It is also much used in naval warfare.