$52 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
cousins, their solicitous calling is too much, and they 
are the means of bringing to death many and many an 
old duck whose age of discretion has long since passed. 
Of decoys for wild geese, with the exception of the 
live birds, the only kind I have yet seen to my liking 
are the * profile” described in this volume on ‘* Wild 
Goose Shooting.” 
Duck-CALus: The power of mimicry in man has full 
scope for vent in wild-fowl shooting. ‘Some men are 
natural mimics, others are sadly deficient in such 
powers, and for the latter the artificial duck’s quack is 
a blessing—that is, if it is properly used. But when 
we take into consideration the great army of duck- 
hunters and think for a moment how little they know 
the art of calling, we are at a loss to know the reason 
why. The majority of hunters, invest in a duck eall. 
They gaze upon it with admiration, squint into its muzzle 
of bell-shaped horn, lock cautiously around to see if 
they are observed, then place it in their mouth, fill 
their lungs with air, give a violent blow, and the air 
resounds with a discordant “ bla-a-a.”” Not to be dis- 
couraged at the first attempt, they try again, and by 
thrusting the extreme end against the palate a sound 
is blown out in A Minor, which faintly resembles a 
wild duck. A little practice soon obviates this, and 
the aspirant soon learns to imitate a duck. Inmitate 
how? As the bird calls in its different moods? No, 
he doesn’t think of that, the very thing he ought to 
think of. The result is, he seeks at times to call them 
to his decoys, and tries this, when he cries to them in 
tones which they utter only when in fright. The begin- 
ner should be a student of nature and birds, and watch 
them in their feeding grounds. Once in a while, some 
