398 DUCK SHOOTING. 



take up and move — if such a course is practicable — to 

 some other point, where the wind is right. 



One of the chief difficulties that I find in shooting at 

 birds that come in from behind the bhnd is that a large 

 proportion of them come quite low, and so are not seen 

 until they are almost upon the gunner. By the time he 

 gets his gun to his shoulder the bird is likely to be 

 almost within arm's length. If now it flares and goes 

 directly up in the air the shot becomes an easy one; 

 but if, on the other hand, it keeps on over the gunner's 

 head he has to twist around, and is very likely to shoot 

 hastily at a straightaway, swift-flying bird, and to 

 miss it. 



I have never yet shot in a blind with a remarkably 

 good shot — a man who took all chances and killed a 

 very large proportion of his birds. I know that there 

 are such men, but it has never been my fortune to see 

 one of them shooting wildfowl. 



Sometimes a bunch of birds coming low over the 

 marsh at a tremendous rate of speed unseen may pass 

 over a man's head with a sound which resembles the 

 escape of steam from a large locomotive, and which, 

 coming so unexpectedly, has a tendency to frighten one 

 out of several years' growth. In my limited experience, 

 canvas-backs and blackheads are the worst offenders in 

 this respect, though occasionally an old black duck 

 coming low down over the blind will startle one by the 

 rustling of his feathers. On several occasions I have 

 had a white-headed eagle come so near the blind that 

 when I rose and shouted at him I could plainly hear his 



