DUCK-SHOOTING. 369 



It was a beginning, I set him on one of the blocks 

 of wood I had roughly trimmed into shape that 

 morning. I had noticed the day before that the 

 water was too deep to set up a dead duck in the or- 

 dinary way. Neither had I been able to find weights 

 of half bricks, which are the main reliance of the 

 Long Island gunner, or stones, which were an un- 

 known quantity in that muddy country. So the 

 best I could do, was, to thrust down a long reed with 

 a string tied to it at the proper distance from the 

 bottom. My decoy was not as natural as I could 

 have made it with better appliances, but it was the 

 best I could manufacture, and it did some service. 

 In less than five minutes it was joined by another 

 mallard, which first came to look, and was then per- 

 suaded to stay by the gentle influence of an ounce 

 and a half of shot. 



In a short time all my floats were occupied, and 

 although they bothered me, and wasted my time by 

 breaking away in consequence of not being properly 

 arranged, they brought me, I do not doubt, twice as 

 many birds as I should have got without them. I 

 have much faith in being well hidden. For black 

 ducks, which are the most wary, it is absolutely 

 necessary not to disturb a leaf that their sharp eyes 

 will notice. If the reeds are thick enough of them- 

 selves to conceal the shooter, do not either add to 

 them or break them down. I have seen blinds 

 built up, till they looked like straw mattresses set 

 on end, of which the birds would be more shy than of 

 the man himself. I was killing shoal-water ducks, 



