INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 5 



and a-half we laboured to get through. By dint of using two heavy poles 

 we reached the place, and then broke np sufficient of the ice to picket out 

 four decoy ducks, two mallards, and five tame ducks which were 

 accustomed to be shot over. The punt was hidden by some grass, and in 

 it I lay on my back with my shoulders propped up by a large sack of 

 grass ; there was not sufficient cover to enable me to hide if I had sat 

 up ; in fact, I had to supplement the little there was by some reeds 

 which a fisherman took off his roof and sold to me. 



'' I could see thousands of ducks on the water in front, looking like a 

 black mass, whilst the edge of the ice was lined with many more. 

 By the aid of glasses I could make them out to be chiefly mallards and 

 red-crested pochards ; of course those birds which had been behind and 

 tolerably close had cleared off. The second punt was sent back by 

 the way we came, and was then carried round by land to where the open 

 water touched the edge of the marsh. In the middle of the pond in front 

 was a small island ; on to this a hardy duck shikari managed to get 

 and then lay hid ; his orders were to hide, and when the ducks had 

 settled to put them up. In addition to the advantages of my post I was 

 immediately in the line of flight between the Hokasai and Anchar lake. 



" I had started early ; the Hokasai party were to begin at noon ; but I 

 had not been long in position before the fun began. Thousands stream- 

 ed over and many pitched on my marsh, but as they came to the right 

 I could not do much when reclining on my back ; soon they began to fly 

 backwards and forwards over my head, and this they coutinued to do for 



hours I counted over-SO birds down before I sat up to eat 



my lunch. They were on the ice in every direction ; two or three fell 

 so close that I could gather them from the boat ; one fell into my 

 cartridge box. "Whilst eating and having a smoke the birds were flyino- 

 round, but were left to their own ways ; and then I lay down again, the 

 ice had thawed in places, and the wounded birds wandered away. I 

 stopped all I could reach, but that was not many. In the afternoon the 

 teal began to fly round and looked for open water, but none of the bio- 

 flights would come near me. Single birds came at short intervals ; my 

 cartridges were nearly finished ; so I whistled for the men, but they could 

 not hear me ; the shooting on Hokasai ceased, and nearly all the ducks 

 left ; now and again a mallard or gadswall came flying round the decoys, 

 and fell an easy prey to the ... powder. 



