72 EQUIPMENT. 



blind on shore, or in the edge of the willows trom 

 a boat, a few hints may be welcome. 



With the wind off shore a very good way 

 for shoal-water ducks is to set them out 

 lengthwise with the shore, rather thinly scattered, 

 immediately opposite the blind, and grouped 

 together, as it were, in two separate flocks at 

 either hand. The open space opposite the blind 

 should not be more than ten to fifteen yards 

 wide, with perhaps five or six decoys in it, and 

 the main flocks about thirty yards from the 

 blind, no decoy being more than fifty yards 

 distant. By arranging them in this manner, 

 the ducks are allowed to come in between the 

 two flocks, and drop into the open space instead 

 of alighting outside the flock, as they often do 

 when the decoys are improperly arranged. For 

 deep-water ducks, three or four decoys as tolers 

 may be set out to leeward, sometimes one hun- 

 dred yards or more from the blind ; but if so 

 placed for the shoal-water varieties, they will 

 frequently alight with them instead of coming on 

 to the main flock. 



With a side wind, the habit of the deep-water 

 ducks is to alight with the middle or windward 

 decoys, while the shoal-water varieties seldom pass 



