The Wild-Fowlers . 25 



" No, but I notice that I shot too low 

 in each case." 



" Quite so. The blackduck, Peritus, 

 is the woodcock of the water. Unlike 

 other ducks, he towers when he leaves the 

 decoys when he takes wing in any in- 

 stance. Most fowl simply get away in 

 any manner, when startled they scurry 

 off any old way just so as to get away as 

 fast as their wings will take them, but the 

 blackduck jumps like a woodcock when 

 he is startled, springs at times twenty feet 

 in the air with one flap of the wings, and 

 if you do not appreciate this trait you 

 are sure to miss him by shooting too 

 low, as you did in both ca^es here to- 

 day." 



The two men thus chatted and gave 

 trigger up to ten o'clock, when the Cap- 

 tain poled up in his dingy, ostensibly to 

 retrieve the game, but taking good care 

 to hint to his two charges at the same 

 time that lunch hour was near at hand 

 and lunch quite ready "ef you genelmen 



