xxvii. WOODPIGEON SHOOTING (PART 7) 439 



Instead of directing a man to walk about in the 

 open and shout and clap his hands, it is a much more 

 killing plan to quietly put the birds up a few at a time 

 by exciting their suspicions, instead of, by really 

 alarming them, making them rise en masse. The birds 

 should be permitted to feed on a field without being 

 disturbed for a day or two. They will then haunt it ; 

 and when you wish to shoot them they should be put 

 up and driven to the decoys by a man concealed in 

 the hedge rapping one stick against another. The 

 pigeons will not in this case be liable to lift in a body 

 and sweep away, but will rise now and again in small 

 numbers, and thus visit the decoys. If the pigeons 

 haunt two fields near your decoys you can put them 

 up off one ; if three fields, you can do so off two of 

 these, and so on ; but never disturb them off all their 

 chosen spots, for if you wish to keep them for your 

 gun they must have some undisturbed place to feed in, 

 and equally will they require a quiet place to roost in. 



Should a large flight of pigeons fly over your 

 decoys as you stand waiting for shots, do not fire ; it 

 is not worth while to frighten them all for the sake of 

 killing a couple. It is wiser policy to allow them to 

 pass by, and you will have a good chance of their 

 returning later in small detachments. Again, if a 

 pigeon passes overhead downwind at a rapid pace and 

 a long shot, do not fire, as if you do not move he may 



