PRESERVING AND LURING THE DUCK 109 



decoys are at home, take your place in a blind from 

 which it is possible to retreat without being seen or 

 heard by any bird on the pond, and from which you 

 can hear when any duck alight on the water. Wait 

 there till you are sure the flight must be over. If only 

 one or two parties arrive, it is better to defer thoughts 

 of shooting for awhile, as these birds may be there for 

 the first time ; but if three or four different lots drop 

 in you may feel sure that a satisfactory lead has been 

 established. Even then, however, it is just as well to 

 put off shooting for a week longer. 



A quarter of an hour or so before what you 

 calculate to be the beginning of flight-time, on the 

 day arranged for beginning operations, give your 

 decoy birds a full feed. Then let a dog put them 

 roughly on the wing, a shot or two being fired as 

 they are leaving the pond; they will not go far, 

 and having been disturbed in this manner, and having 

 had their hunger quite satisfied, they will seldom 

 return at the flight. The guns are then to take 

 their places in the blinds. Repeat these proceed- 

 ings every time of shooting. Not till the flight is 

 quite over must there be made any attempt to 

 gather the duck which fall; mark them, by sound 

 if not by sight, as carefully as possible, and let the 

 dog retrieve them afterwards. As long as a lead 



