412 FEATHERED GAME 



seem to gain much on the cripple and you think 

 you will try him with a charge of 4's. Bang! 

 and when the smoke has drifted aside — no 

 Shelldrake. He is under and won't come up 

 again inside of two hundred yards. After star- 

 ing in vain for this bird, which has come up very 

 cautiously and just poking his head above water 

 for a breath has as silently gone under again 

 for another stretch seaward, you turn your at- 

 tention to a second invalid which mayhap leads 

 you a similar chase. Perhaps you capture him 

 — perhaps not. Your chances are about even 

 on either bet. Just here you see a large flock 

 making off from your decoys, scared away by 

 your antics in the boat, so you decide to pick up 

 the dead and get back into the blind. As you 

 pull up to the two or three birds left limp and 

 lifeless in the water when you went out you find 

 them right side up again and not more than half 

 as dead as you had thought, and these, too, com- 

 mence making frantic efforts to get under water, 

 with what success their condition permits. One 

 gets almost under and is now politely ''shak- 

 ing a day-day" with one red foot in the air, dis- 

 appearing entirely just as you pull trigger. If 



