OUTFITS, BLINDS, DECOYS AND DUCK-CALLS, 345 
concealed, the vast size, the extreme height, the carc- 
less construction of their blind prevents precisely what 
they have sought to accomplish. And while it conceals 
their form, attracts the ducks’ attention by its dissim- 
ilarity to the scenery around it. The blind should not 
be too high, and by all means ought not to loom up 
plainly to view. The hunter must depend to a very 
great extent on the color of his clothes, and his faculty 
of keeping perfectly quiet and immovable. 
Where ducks are found, nature has showered her 
blessings abundantly, and flags, rice, grass, brush, 
twigs, trees and cornstalks are generally found. The 
hunter, then, will avoid the placing of artificial blinds, 
made at home,and borrow from the marsh or other 
places material that serves to complete or shelter the 
edges of the water where he is shooting. 
If in the marsh, he should watch the flight of birds, 
mark the spot where they are dropping in with regu- 
larity ; let experience tell him whether or not he has 
found the place where he is confident of good shooting. 
He must judge the direction of the wind, locate him- 
self on the windward shore, if ducks are alighting, be- 
cause they always light against the wind. After he 
has arrived at this point, let him not judge hastily what 
he is to do, lest having acted unwisely and without 
forethought, he repent at leisure. At this time he sees 
before him an opening, disclosing a little pond, sur- 
rounded ‘by flags or grass, rice or willow twigs, while 
dotting the surface here and there great brown mounds 
of decayed stalks and compressed earth show to him a 
muskrat village. The question with him is, what shall 
he do for a blind? For the sake of illustration: We 
find him without a boat. He must ascertain how near 
