Duck-shooting 39 



require frequent bailing. Every care is taken of 

 the sink box ; at low tide wheelbarrows of sand 

 and gravel are dumped around its edges to fill 

 in the spaces washed away; sacks of sand are 

 often stacked around it to serve as a solid 

 foundation ; gradually in this way a bar is formed 

 which slopes up to the level of the box. This is 

 surrounded by a large number of stool, a hun- 

 dred or more, to which are added a few live birds, 

 tied out in conspicuous places and generally con- 

 nected by a string with the blind, so if circum- 

 stances require they can be forced to perform. 

 At Cape Cod now large numbers of stool are 

 very important, and live birds are absolutely 

 essential. 



As to the brant, constant persecution has made 

 them, of all birds, wary, as wise perhaps as geese. 

 They avoid the bars and blinds in spite of all in- 

 ducements, and keeping together in vast throngs 

 lay their course over open water. Many feed on 

 the flats, dipping their necks down in the shallow 

 water, but never diving ; and hence their feeding 

 depth is marked by their length. With the rising 

 tide the birds are drifted from the flats and gradu- 

 ally float toward the shore, all in one vast aggre- 

 gation. This is a critical time. The three men 

 in the sink box lie low. Slowly and surely ap- 

 proach the mass of birds ; the water is black with 

 them. Constant discordant notes from the assem- 



