134 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
helping them along. They see the decoys. Let them 
pass, I will cluck and they will return and alight against 
the wind. Here they come! Give it to them! Six 
down! Shoot that cripple quick. That’s it. And 
you were none too soon either. He only straightened 
up to see where the danger lay, and if you had let him 
dive once we would have lost him, as he would have 
gone clean over to the rushes, and then would have 
been safe. Here comes a single one. Hold well ahead 
and under; his wings are set, and he is coming down 
quite fast. See how dead you can kill him. Didn't 
kill him very dead, did you, with the first barrel? You 
overshot it, but then your second barrel redeemed you. 
It is a Gadwell or gray duck. It took two shells, but 
if you can bag a duck using two shells on an average, 
you area good duck shot. It can be done over decoys, 
but in no other way. Bless me! I came near missing 
it, shot a trifle behind; it wasn’t over twenty yards 
from us. I saw Don’s eyes sparkling, and, following the 
direction he was looking, I saw a pair of red feet right 
over the water, a young mallard drake. Many and 
many a duck have I shot in this manner, my attention 
being called to it by the glistening eyes of my dog, or 
his chattering teeth, as he tries to restrain his nervous 
excitement. An old duck dog as anxiously notes the 
approach of game as does his master. Here comes a 
flock of pin-tails. Now forfun! Don’t move and I will 
see if they can be calleddown. See! They notice the 
decoys, hear my whistle, and look at them come down, 
like fluttering leaves. They must have been fully 
eighty yards up when I first called them. Don’t they 
come with a rush? Shoot just as they are over the 
water; fire where two or more are together. Hurrah! 
