3^6 DUCK SHOOTING, 



done and I was standing in the blind waiting for the 

 birds to come. 



This, then, was the condition of things. The wind 

 was northeast and I was facing south. The leading 

 decoys were a little south of east of the blind, and the 

 tail ones about south. Any birds coming from east, 

 south or west would swing out in front of me and lead 

 up over the decoys, and I ought to shoot at them just 

 as they were passing over the tail decoys. My two 

 guns, loaded and cocked, lay across their rests, muzzles 

 to the left. Behind me was my chair, into which I 

 would crouch if birds appeared. My clothing was 

 yellowish gray, harmonizing well with the surrounding 

 vegetation. The top of the cane which formed the 

 blind was broken off about breast high, so as not to 

 interfere with the shooting. 



As we approached the point in the morning we had 

 disturbed a flock of 200 or 300 ducks and a small flock 

 of geese, which had flown away unharmed to other 

 feeding places. These birds we confidently expected 

 would come back a little later, and now we began to 

 watch for them with all our eyes. For a time, how- 

 ever, nothing came, and I studied the actions of the live 

 decoys. These were having a very good time washing 

 themselves, preening their feathers, and occasionally 

 tipping up to feed on the bottom. After a while one 

 and another of them swam up to its "stool" and 

 clambered on it, standing there and arranging its 

 feathers. From time to time the drake would call to 

 the ducks and they would answer him, and when a 



