INLAND AND ON THE SHORE 57 



convenience. A waterproof mat must be placed 

 upon the seat before the pit is occupied. The 

 excavated matter should be scattered in all direc- 

 tions, and the surface of the land made to show as 

 little sign as possible of having been disturbed. 

 A good deal depends upon the observance or non- 

 observance of this precaution. The foregoing applies 

 to a pit made in a bare situation. When sedge or 

 marram, or other growth of some kind exists near 

 at hand, the pit, its depth proportionately less, may 

 be roughly fringed with it. There should be dry 

 straw or litter for the feet to rest upon. When one 

 wishes to use a pit constantly it is a good plan to 

 have the sides roughly boarded and a plank fixed 

 for the seat. On the shore a pit should be so dug 

 that the gunner sits with his face towards the sea. 

 A fowler of enterprise will have, on a flat fore- 

 shore, a certain number of pits in a line at right 

 angles with the sea, so that whatever the state of 

 the tide he can always take up a desirable position, 

 retreating to a more landward pit as the flowing 

 water threatens to flood the one he occupies, or 

 baling out and ensconcing himself in a more sea- 

 ward hiding-place as the tide ebbs. 



The use of decoy ducks is probably a device 

 as old as the art of wild-fowling itself. Decoys in 



