252 DUCK SHOOTING. 



fields, the earth being carried away to some distance 

 and scattered over the ground, so that there shall be no 

 fresh soil exposed to attract the attention of the flocks 

 and render them suspicious. About the pits are set up 

 the decoys, which usually consist of sheet-iron profiles 

 of geese, on sharp-pointed iron standards implanted 

 in the ground, so that when seen from the direction 

 from which the birds are coming, they look like a flock 

 of geese standing on the ground. On these, and on his 

 power of calling, the gunner, hidden in the pit, de- 

 pends. 



He is in his blind by daylight, and soon after this 

 the flight begins. If he has had time to study the habits 

 of the birds, his blind is placed directly in the line of 

 flight, between the roosting and the feeding ground, 

 and his decoys are likely to call down to within gun- 

 shot many of the passing flocks. Sometimes, if two or 

 three men are shooting together, they will dig their pits 

 about a gun-shot apart, and at right angles to the line 

 of the birds' flight. In such a case they plant their de- 

 coys midway between the pits, with the result that the 

 flocks which come down to them are likely to offer shots 

 to the occupants of the two pits between which they 



fly. 



While most of the birds killed are likely to fall at 

 once, there will still be many which, struck by one or 

 two pellets, or hit too far behind, will carry off the 

 shot, and, gradually lowering their flight, will come to 

 the ground a long way from the pit. It is important, 

 therefore, that each flock shot at should be watched as 



