xxvni. WOODPIGEON SHOOTING (PART 77)' 453 



If you are clothed in white when the ground is 

 covered with snow, you need not be so careful of con- 

 cealment, and you will thus, from standing more in 

 the open, have ample space for wielding your gun and 

 seeing the birds ; and if you stand motionless till the 

 moment of firing they will not appear to notice you. 



In a larch or a hardwood covert, without snow on 

 the ground, dress in brown ; among dark firs don 

 dark clothes ; and recollect your cap (and your face 

 too, but you cannot help that) is a very noticeable 

 object to a bird passing overhead, as every time you 

 look about you the cap moves, and it should hence be 

 carefully chosen to match the neighbouring foliage, 

 or, if clear of trees, the ground you are standing on, 



POWDER AND SHOT 



However strong a devotee of black powder, you 

 should certainly use a smokeless grain when shooting 

 woodpigeons ; the absence of noise and smoke will be 

 of great assistance in obtaining shots. With a nitro- 

 compound, I have frequently killed pigeons that have 

 returned at once to my decoys after being missed on 

 their first visit thereto ! An incident that will not 

 often occur with the earth-shaking, smoke-belching, 

 furnace-flaming black powder. 



under a tree in front of you ; he can then count the birds as they faU 

 behind you, and mark their position for subsequent search, or else 

 send his retriever for them as they drop. 



