60 SHOOTING THE DUCK 



will take you by the birds at the desired range. 

 Shooting from a heavily screened boat known as 

 a sneak-boat is widely and successfully practised in 

 America. Another device adopted in America, where 

 extent of water and abundance of fowl make it, like 

 the sneak-boat, a serviceable means of filling the bag, 

 is known as the sink-box. This is a floating platform 

 or raft with a long shallow box, the top of which is 

 on a level with the platform, in the middle. On the 

 platform, which is painted to resemble the water 

 as seen from above, are fixed ten or a dozen decoys. 

 The position of the sportsman in the box may be that 

 of one in a punt, or he can turn on his back and kill 

 the birds coming over him. 



The white overall is a device with which the duck 

 shooter who wishes for success cannot dispense when 

 a covering of snow lies on the ground. It is also 

 serviceable during the time of a thick mist. The 

 overall is made of linen, after the pattern of an 

 ordinary nightshirt. At the sides it should have 

 slits through which the wearer can reach his pockets 

 and cartridge-belt, while at the level of the hips and 

 knees there should be sewn pieces of tape, which, 

 when" the overall is on, may be so tied that, though 

 free movement of limb is allowed, the superfluous 

 material cannot flutter about on the wind. The 



