152 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
cold as ice. Since then my boats are built for safety, 
not speed. Now just waita bit, we don’t want the blue- 
bill decoys too near these ; they are on the best of terms, 
blue-bills and red-heads ; still we will keep them apart 
this morning. That's it! Throw about half a dozen 
blue-bills together, then string the balance on the outer 
edge. They area prying lot, and you will always note 
a few stragglers outside the main bunch. These mal- 
lards want to go close to the edge of the rice, just far 
enough out to be noticeable. You will remember they 
like to alight right in the edges of the rice. Now take 
a look. Nice lot, aren’t they? Twelve red-heads, 
eighteen blue-bills and ten mallards. How surprised 
some hunter would be if he should come punting 
through here and suddenly see them. Tell the differ- 
ence? Not much, he couldn’t! Because he would be 
expecting to see ducks in such a place as this. The 
best of hunters get fooled at times; only last week, I 
filled one of these same decoys with shot, mistaking it 
for a crippled duck that fell where it was. Every hunter 
can recall instances and laughable mistakes made in 
shooting at decoys, and very few of us have avoided 
being caught. Never mind. Sit still and I will push 
the boat into those tall rushes, just behind that muskrat 
house. Now take the oars, pull down those tallest 
rushes, by bending them with the oar, and they will 
shield the boat, making an excellent blind. We will 
let Don retrieve those falling in the rushes, but let 
those lie that drop in open water. Whenever the dog 
retrieves, help him up on the bow; he understands that 
is his place when retrieving. He won’t shake himself, 
has got too much sense for that. 
Have plenty of shells handy, and here, take these, 
