174 BIED-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



till one has had almost time to replace the cap, but not 

 quite. 



There is one imperative point in approaching Mallard, or, 

 indeed, any wildfowl. They must always be " set to " from 

 the leeward ; neglect of this precaution assures certain failure. 

 Nevertheless it sometimes happens that fowl are met with in 

 such a situation (as e.g., on the weather side of a shelving 

 bank, or in the leeward recesses of a narrow creek), that 

 there exists no alternative but to attempt to proceed down 

 wind on them. The attempt is sure to fail, but the effect 

 produced on the fowl is interesting to observe. Their sense 

 of smell is obviously keener than their perception of the 

 threatening danger ; and as they get our wind when still two 

 or three gunshots distant, the Ducks will be observed to be 

 affected by some suspicion, a suspicion which appears to be 

 vague and to have assumed no very definite form in their 

 minds. The pack begins to scatter, each Duck swimming to 

 and fro uneasily, and when at last they take wing, they do so 

 reluctantly and with slow and horizontal flight, very different 

 from their custom when in presence of ascertained danger. 

 Had one sat upright, fired a gun, or, in short, revealed 

 clearly to them the hated human presence, every Duck would 

 have sprung vertically in the air like so many sky-rockets. 

 Now they fly low, and probably pitch again at no great 

 distance. But that lurking, ill-defined spirit of suspicion 

 continues to smoulder in their breasts, making them restless 

 and shifty, and it is seldom that that pack can again be 

 manoeuvred. 



So great is the dash with which the Game-ducks (Mallard, 

 Teal, or Wigeon) spring from the sea, throwing themselves 

 at a single impulse a full dozen feet clear of the water, that 

 they cannot well be taken " on the rise " with a set punt- 

 gun. The shot must be taken on the water, or, at latest, 

 just as their wings are opening. Of course, flying shots can 

 be made at Ducks by "tipping" the gun; but these are 

 not so effective, and I refer to the more usual method of 

 firing with the gun laid in position along the fore-deck. To 

 illustrate my meaning, let us compare a shot at, say, Mallard, 

 and one at Geese. The latter fowl, being heavier and less 



