78 SHOOTING THE DUCK 



he takes his sport, so should the coast-fowler seek out 

 and he will know them by unmistakable signs the 

 feeding-places of the widgeon. The latter are usually 

 covered at high tide. But one may often find spots 

 - spots where the grass is short and fine and where 

 the mushroom grows in its season whereon the 

 widgeon feed. Having found that the birds visit 

 such a spot, and having made himself a pit, the 

 flight-shooter may confidently look forward to good 

 sport far better sport, as a rule, than if he were in a 

 pit on the mud ; for in the one case the feeding area 

 is limited, and in the other practically unlimited. A 

 watch should be kept on the low meadows near the 

 coast at the time of heavy rains. When pools of 

 water stand on the meadows or marshes widgeon 

 will very often make them their feeding-places, 

 dropping into the pools at flight-time and grazing 

 in their vicinity through the night. If there come 

 the combination of a fair wind, a black sky, and a 

 moon rising an hour or two after flight-time, a good 

 shot may be made by crawling up-wind, before the 

 moon rises, to the pit which one has previously dug 

 in a position to command a pool, and waiting for the 

 birds to gather together on the water, which they are 

 sure to do with the coming of the moonlight. 

 Whether a feeding-place be that of widgeon or 



