EFFECTS OF MOONLIGHT ON WATER. 415 



moon behind you, they will surely see you and make off long 

 before you are within shot. The same principle holds good 

 in the morning: you must paddle towards the rising sun; or 

 in the direction of the glow left in the sky after sunset. 

 At such times, though in the gloom yourself and so nearly 

 invisible, the fowl will appear sharply outlined against the light." ' 



This stands to common sense: for all a man has to 

 do is to look out over water by moonlight and ob- 

 serve the long avenue of brilliantly lit surface, show- 

 ing out white like snow under the rays of the full moon, 

 which stretches forth between him and the pale Queen 

 of Night, and he will at once realize this fact. Ducks 

 etc. upon it, a moderate distance away, are clearly vis- 

 ible, so also of course would a man be; the trouble is, 

 that it is not easy to get people to observe and re- 

 collect these facts. In the same way it is always of 

 essential importance to observe the set of the wind: 

 the olfactory powers of most wildfowl are exceedingly 

 acute ; and if the fowler hunts down wind, he must not 

 be surprised to find the birds have smelt him, and 

 made off; efforts should therefore always be made, when 

 that is possible, to approach a company of wildfowl 

 either up wind, or across wind: though no doubt their 

 sense of smell is less keen than that of some of the 

 large game animals like elk, moose, and other mem- 

 bers of the deer tribe. 



The powers of scent in wildfowl should however 

 always be kept in mind by fowlers, as we feel convinced 

 that the sudden flying off of ducks, without apparent 

 cause, while the fowler is noiselessly endeavouring to creep 

 up within shot, may frequently be attributed to their ob- 



* Shooting Moor and Marsh of Badminton Library Edit., by Lord 

 Walsingham and Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, Bart., 1886, Vol. ii, p. 177. 



