FLIGHT SHOOTING. 417 



in support of so eminent an authority, is our own 

 experience. 



The Colonel however considers that, " flight shooting is 

 always followed with most success in very boisterous weather, 

 provided the course of the birds happens to be against the 

 wind, as this not only obliges them to fly low, but doubles 

 them well together." "Should the weather be clear, and the 

 birds come in high, the best chance of a shot is to conceal 

 yourself between the banks of some small creek, as they will 

 lower their flight on reaching the mud. Be careful to shoot 

 well forward." "In rough weather you may sometimes have 

 sport for the whole day by digging a masked entrenchment, 

 at the extreme end of some promontory that divides one 

 well-stocked bay from another." * 



In inland shooting an excellent place for this sport 

 is on a short connecting stream between two large 

 lakes; here a blind constructed among bushes etc., is 

 usually very successful, as such places commonly form 

 what is known as " a duck pass. " 



The customary fly lines of ducks, and other aquatic 

 birds, passing to and from their feeding grounds (or 

 in other words the duck passes), are places which it is 

 of vital importance for the sportsman to discover and 

 make himself thoroughly acquainted with. 



This he w T ill of course, in an inhabited district, find 

 out from those residents who use a gun; but in wild 

 countries, unless he can obtain native assistance, he 

 will have to find this out for himself. Generally they 

 follow the courses of great rivers small islands there- 

 fore in mid-stream- are often good stations or else they 

 go along the streams connecting chains of lakes and 

 swamps. Dry spots among swamps in these sort of 



* Instructions to Sportsmen, by Lieut.-Col. P. Hawker, 6th Edit. 

 1830, p. 3078. 



VOL. III. 27 



