OUTFITS, BLINDS, DECOYS AND DUCK-CALLS, 345 



concealed, the vast size, the extreme height, the care- 

 less construction of their blind prevents precisely what 

 they have sought to accomplish. And while it conceals 

 their form, attracts the ducks' attention by its dissinv 

 ilarity to the scenery around it. The blind should not 

 be too high, and by all means ought not to loom up 

 plainly to view. The hunter must depend to a very 

 great extent on the color of his clothes, and his faculty 

 of keeping perfectly quiet and immovable. 



Where ducks are found, nature has showered her 

 blessings abundantly, and flags, rice, grass, brush,, 

 twigs, trees and cornstalks are generally found. The 

 hunter, then, \vill avoid the placing of artificial blinds, 

 made at home, and borrow from the marsh or other 

 places material that serves to complete or shelter the 

 edges of the water where he is shooting. 



If in the marsh, he should watch the flight of birds, 

 mark the spot where they are dropping in with regu- 

 larity ; let experience tell him whether or not he has 

 found the place where he is confident of good shooting. 

 He must judge the direction of the wind, locate him- 

 self on the windward shore, if ducks are alighting, be- 

 cause they always light against the wind. After he 

 has arrived at this point, let him not judge hastily what 

 he is to do, lest having acted unwisely and without 

 forethought, he repent at leisure. At this time he sees 

 before him an opening, disclosing a little pond, sur- 

 rounded by flags or grass, rice or willow twigs, while 

 dotting the surface here and there great brown mounds 

 of decayed stalks and compressed earth show to him a 

 muskrat village. The question with him is, what shall 

 he do for a blind ? For the sake of illustration : We 

 find him without a boat. He must ascertain how near 



