THE BATTERY. 549 



THE BATTERY. 



The battery is a watertight box, just long, wide and 

 deep enough to contain a man lying down, set in the 

 middle of a solid platform which floats it. From one 

 end and the two sides of the platform, wings — loosely 

 hinged to the sides so that they may rise and fall with 

 the waves — run out over the water. Usually all about 

 the margin of the box are narrow screens of sheet lead 

 which, when turned up, oppose four or six inches of 

 height to any wave that by chance may break over the 

 wings and deck, and so keep the water out of the box 

 in which the gunner is reclining. The deck and its 

 wings should be as near the level of the water as pos- 

 sible, and to this end the box must be ballasted ; more 

 weight, of course, being required for a light man than 

 for a heavy one. On the platform commonly rest a 

 number of decoy ducks, cast from iron, to sink it to its 

 proper level. At the head end of the box, there is 

 often what is called a head-board, a little pillow of 

 wood to raise the gunner's head, so that his eyes are 

 just above the level of the box. 



The battery is commonly anchored on the feeding 

 ground, head to the wind, and the decoys are put out 

 about it and strung away to leeward, though most of 

 them are on the side of the box toward which the gun- 

 ner shoots. (See diagram facing page 434.) The 

 fowl coming up to the decoys are expected to fly over 

 those to leeward, and to the left, and the gunner, as 

 they come, rises to a sitting position and shoots. 



