92 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
of the right hand are customarily used. This enables the 
gunner to hold his gun in the left hand almost ready to lift for 
a shot. Here some practice in calling and holding the gun- 
muzzle towards approaching fowl may be needed to acquire the 
position with perfection and comfort. 
When the whistling and rough outline of the call-notes are 
mastered, hie away to the coast and listen to the birds. 
Follow them day and night. At night their notes are in 
certain cases quite different from those uttered by day. The 
shore-birds are ‘‘talking.” Talk with them and you are 
perfect. Hark! ‘‘Kurr! kurr!” then a high-pitched short 
pipe and a quickly followed rattle of short whistles, and along 
the shore approach in the gloaming a small flock of curlews 
flying at twice their normal speed. The expert shore-gunner 
has heard them, and on the air is piped a thrilling half-drawn 
curlew call. The birds hesitate ; now is the time. With all 
his knowledge of curlew talk, the gunner then pours out 
a volume of quickly whistled loud and low alternating notes. 
In this way a flock of curlews is by the caller represented 
as calling to the flock on wing, which, with an unhesitating 
sweep, swings in the shooter’s direction. They have been 
deceived again, the perfect numberless notes having actually 
persuaded them that a flock of their kind had asked them 
to alight, and, being anxious to do so, they eagerly respond in 
voice and action. This is an example of attractive calling. 
The reverse would have been the case had the shooter weirdly 
whistled the long-drawn alarm ‘‘kurr-lee-kurr-lee” ; every 
bird would have tossed itself and fled. Thus the importance 
of uttering the right sounds. First learn the ordinary calls 
and mimic them accurately; then study and practise those 
which form the language, so to speak. Calling can only be 
learned, practised, and perfected in the haunts of the birds, but 
a few hints regarding the most attractive notes can often be 
secured from practitioners in the art. The learner would do 
