DECOYS FOR WILD FOWL. 215 



slumnocl by every bird in existence, sitting- on the 

 ground or on a tree. 



I had to make all my pools ; but from knowing 

 the humom^s and necessities of wild fowl, great 

 care was taken to meet all peculiarities attached 

 to their very little understood nature. When I 

 say ^^very little understood," I speak of the surface 

 sportsman or mere gunner. I always loved to 

 study the nature of wild things, and now am 

 happier in their happiness than in their death ; 

 and I love preservation and the more genial sun 

 of the breeding season better than the ^Mjag" 

 and frost and snow. 



A young sportsman one rainy day, or day not 

 comfortable for shooting in (wet covers spoil 

 pheasants in their death as well as sport), kept 

 teasing his host to go out, so there was a con- 

 sultation as to whether the cover should be beaten 

 or not. 



If I mistake not (I was not present), a noble 

 lord, much this young man's senior, at length 

 stepped in with this pertinent question, — imper- 

 tinent by some it may be deemed, but with the 

 causticity of it I most heartily agree, — ^^ Is it 

 not possible," said the elder of the two, ^^for you 



