328 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



when moving in flocks, a person can bag a good many by 

 taking a stand at some point on their line of flight, or by 

 lying down on the ground, provided his clothes are of a 

 neutral hue. It is nothing uncommon for a man to kill 

 ten or eleven with both barrels, especially if they present 

 a chance for side shots. If they are flying at a high alti- 

 tude, the sportsman may be able to score with the first 

 barrel, but he will often find it difficult to use the sec- 

 ond, as they descend with such a rush that one might 

 imagine the entire flock had been killed. If flocks are 

 not moving in one direction, it is little or no use trying 

 to take a stand on their line of flight, so the only ready 

 resource left is to stalk them from a carriage or a wagon. 

 The horse should be driven rapidly towards them, as if 

 one intended to pass them, and when he is hauled up, care 

 should be taken that he is within gun range of them. 

 As the birds always rise when the horse stops, the person 

 who is prompt with his weapon should be able to count 

 with both barrels and make a large score. If a man 

 stalks them afoot, he should run parallel to the flocks, as 

 if he were hastening away from them, and, on getting 

 within distance, wheel suddenly and fire. He must be 

 good in wind and steady in nerve to make a heavy bag 

 by this method, as it is exceedingly trying on the 

 muscles. 



Should any of a passing flock be killed or wounded, the 

 survivors often circle round them, and thus offer capital 

 opportunities for making side shots. It is not unusual 

 for a man to kill twenty or thirty at a time in this manner, 

 as the creatures seem to take no notice of the leaden hail 

 that is decimating them. Instances are known in which 

 persons have killed two and three hundred in a day by 

 wing shooting alone, owing to this habit of the birds, for 

 they sweep round and round several times, and within a 

 few feet of their dead or crippled kindred. The large 

 flocks break up into small wings, numbering from three to 



