164 WILD-FOWL 



make them some days before the shooting begins, in 

 order that the birds may become accustomed to them. 



When sea-duck shooting it is most important to 

 know what the birds are doing, or more accurately 

 (since the decision as to where the blind is to be 

 placed is often made in the dark) to know what 

 the birds will be doing when daylight comes. The 

 old salts who have spent their lives on the bay 

 are not only good weather prophets, but good duck 

 prophets as well. First of all the wind must be con- 

 sidered and a decision reached as to what the wind 

 will be during the morning flight. Ducks, it must be 

 remembered, do not frequent a windward shore. It 

 having been determined that the wind will be in a 

 certain direction, the various desirable points for a 

 blind are considered, and the one most likely is 

 selected. The ducks, for reasons of their own, will 

 be seen "using," as it is termed, certain points or 

 waters in preference to others which appear equally 

 as good, and it is to the point where the bay-man has 

 seen the birds (when the wind is off shore) that he 

 will turn his prow. 



The city sportsman who places himself in the hands 

 of a local bay-man will hardly fail to have good shoot- 

 ing. It is well, however, for him to know the " whys 

 and wherefores," to be able to sail his own boat and to 

 estimate for himself what the ducks will be doing, for 

 the knowledge of such things contributes largely to the 

 making of a duck-shooter. The sportsman who knows 

 where to place his decoys will often enjoy very good 

 shooting and return to the cabin, hotel, or club to meet 

 another who has not shot a bird, for the simple reason 



