334 HABITS OF WIGEON. 



the birds " all in a charm" (that is, in full concert), 

 if you have patience to wait and listen, which a good 

 gunner always repeatedly does, every now and then, 

 before he ventures on the final approach. The birds 

 might otherwise steal away, and totally mislead him. 

 When wigeon are " in a charm"'' they are not mind- 

 ing you, but when they are quite silent, they are, as 

 likely as not, suspecting an enemy. At this moment, 

 you must keep still, till they open again ; and so on, 

 till you see them ; and then, in starlight, you are 

 generally near enough, at all events for a large gun, 

 to give them your royal salute. 



Be sure and choose, if possible, the best back- 

 ground to advance from, in order to disguise your 

 profile from the horizon. Even a black cloud is 

 better than nothing. But if (before the mud is 

 covered) you hear birds walking away, and neither 

 feeding nor " speaking," it is a bad omen. It shows 

 that they have some suspicion of an approaching 

 enemy, and are half inclined to fly. When birds are 

 about one hundred yards off (or much further, in 

 very calm weather), you may hear them feeding ; the 

 noise of which, at this distance, is like the falling of 

 a little water, and is often mistaken for it at ebb 

 tide. 



Here are (in the fewest words I can give them) all 

 the necessary requisites for night-shooting, and, if 

 well understood and well managed, you are just about 

 as sure of getting a fair shot (in & favourable time}, 

 as you would be with a young partridge to a dead 



