338 HABITS OF WIGEON. 



always repeatedly does, every now and then, before he 

 ventures on the final approach. The birds might 

 otherwise steal away, and totally mislead him. When 

 wigeon are " in a charm 9 ' they are not minding you; 

 but when they are quite silent, they are, as likely as 

 not, suspecting an enemy. At this moment, you must 

 keep still, till they open again ; and so on, till you see 

 them ; and then, in starlight, you are generally near 

 enough, 'at all events for a large gun, to give them 

 your royal salute. 



Be sure and choose, if possible, the best background 

 to advance from, in order to disguise your profile from 

 the horizon. Even a black cloud is better than nothing. 

 But if (before the mud is covered) you hear birds 

 walking away, and neither feeding nor " speaking," it 

 is a bad omen. It shows that they have some suspicion 

 of an approaching enemy, and are half inclined to fly. 

 When birds are about one hundred yards off (or much 

 further, in very calm weather), you may hear them 

 feeding; the noise of which, at this distance, is like 

 the falling of a little water, and is often mistaken for it 

 at ebb tide. 



Here are (in the fewest words I can give them) all 

 the necessary requisites for night-shooting; and, if well 

 understood and well managed, you are just about as 

 sure of getting a fair shot (in a favourable time), as 

 you would be with a young partridge to a dead point 

 in standing clover. As to all the old plans of burying 

 punts, casks, &c. &c., they are now of so little avail in 

 almost every part of England, as to be no longer worthy 

 of insertion. 



