148 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



know by the bird's movements that food is there. 

 After a ring round, they pitch, and begin to walk up 

 to him. Now they have found the food ; nearer they 

 come, they are within range. Bang I three brace lie 

 dead on the field. 



Gathering up his birds, the man places himself 

 in hiding again, and the bird, perfectly unconcerned, 

 presently goes through his performance again for the 

 allurement of another flock. 



And now another actor appears on the scene, 

 flashing out into the field like a brown streak, and 

 striking the decoy. It is a sharp stroke and an 

 effective one, for the bird falls over on his side dead. 

 Recovering himself in the turn, the hawk swoops 

 down on his victim. Once more a shot is heard, 

 and the hawk, too, is dead. Muttering unheard-of 

 blessings backwards on the author of the mischief, 

 the shooter finds, when he reaches the spot, a male 

 kestrel, which, although quite dead, still grasps tightly 

 in one of his claws the head of the decoy bird, which 

 he had taken off clean when he swooped down. 



A pigeon-shooter I knew well used a stuffed 

 woodpigeon, fastened to a piece of board, as a decoy. 

 This bird was once pounced on by a female kestrel, 

 and she cluttered off with it over the stubble. 

 Another of her family joined her, and the pair fought 



