From the dark pools at twilight comes the soft 

 calls of the drake mallards, and from the open 

 waters the whistle of widgeon. Night by night the 

 sounds increase, until the air resounds with the 

 clanging calls of geese, and the hissing of feathered 

 phalanxes. 



This is the time when the devotees of the blind 

 and decoy hie them to the marshes. 



It is possible to give the young hunter going on 

 his first hunt a few suggestions that will be of value 

 in a day's sport. But the really important features 

 he must learn by experience. 



The most vital factor in a successful shoot is a 

 good knowledge of the habits of wild fowl ; as here 

 conditions change so that even the veteran gunner is 

 sometimes at fault. Every move made in a day's 

 duck hunting is based on what the hunter thinks the 

 game will do on that particular day; and if his 

 reasoning is sound, a heavy game bag will be his 

 rev/ard. 



When the novice for the first time crawls into 

 a boat in the wee small hours, to row to the duck 

 grounds, he usually wishes that he hadn't. It is 

 pitch dark, of course; he hasn't enjoyed his cjuickly 

 cooked breakfast ; and the cold makes his teeth 

 chatter. 



If there is any wind, his sorrow is unlimited: 

 and yet this very wind — unpleasant as it may be — 

 is what the veteran duck-hunter wishes for above 

 all things. For it makes the birds Hy low; then it 



42 



