114 NEW Bit UNS WICK. 



very first appearance of geese, selects a field of ice 

 which he thinks is well anchored to the shore and not 

 likely soon to move, but yet as near the open water as 

 possible. .He then chops eight or ten square blocks of ice 

 with which he constructs his hide. A load of brown sea- 

 weed has next to be hauled from the nearest beach, and, 

 when wet, is made up into little bundles about the size 

 and shape of the body of a goose. This seaweed is exactly 

 the colour of a goose's back, and a little block of ice in 

 front of each bundle makes th white breast. Sixty or 

 seventy of these decoys are arranged artistically on the ice 

 within about thirty yards of the hide. To a dozen or so 

 of them he adds necks and heads roughly cut out of wood 

 and then charred black, the white markings of the goose's 

 neck being whittled out with a knife. These decoys 

 freeze to the ice during the night, and never blow down or 

 give any further trouble. If the site be judiciously chosen 

 these arrangements will last for ten days, or even longer; 

 and the gunner, whose camp is in the immediate vicinity, 

 by watching the turn of the tide, can always be at his post 

 when geese are on the move. He should have a light 

 flat-bottomed punt, sharp at both ends, and decked in; 

 this is painted pure white, and finished off with a coating 

 of oil, which gives it an ice-like gloss. Two parallel 

 runners shod with steel are fixed to the bottom of this 

 craft, which serves either as a hand sled or a boat, and 

 should always be within reach of the gunner, in case of 

 ice running, or wounded birds taking to the water. I 

 usually propel this craft with a single paddle in preference 

 to sculls, and carry a little boathook to cling on to the ice. 

 Over his usual clothes the sportsman wears a blouse and 



