74 SHOOTING THE DUCK 



of the tide. Some of the most delightful sport I have 

 ever had has been among duck on the shore during a 

 prolonged frost. One should start the day at dawn. 

 When a gale is raging the duck-shooter must hasten 

 to take advantage of his opportunity, knowing that 

 the birds, rinding things too turbulent for them at sea, 

 will be sheltering on the lee-side of the estuaries and 

 scattered about the creeks and other waters near 

 the coast. A gale not only brings duck within reach 

 of the shore-shooter, but also renders them much 

 more easy of approach than when the weather is still. 

 A time for which the duck-shooter should be especi- 

 ally on the look-out is that of a thaw following a spell 

 of hard frost. The birds will then flock to their 

 favourite feeding-grounds, which the frost has kept 

 closed, and feed ravenously for just a few hours so 

 ravenously that, their ordinary caution being in abey- 

 ance, the gunner has little or no difficulty in bringing 

 himself within range. 



It is the habit of surface-feeding duck to pass the 

 day at sea or in some secure inland retreat, and to 

 visit their feeding-places at night, the brief period 

 which they spend in making the journeys to and fro 

 being known as flight-time. It is at flight-time that 

 the duck-shooter ashore has, as a rule, the cream of 

 his sport. 



