MISCELLANEOUS SPORT 317 



But, whatever the form of decoy, it must always be 

 placed with its head facing the wind, and the gun or guns 

 should stand some fifty yards away, facing it. "It will 

 be found useful," says Lord Walsingham, "to be pre- 

 pared beforehand with several short sticks, pointed at 

 both ends, and when ten or twelve birds are down, to 

 gather them quickly and set them up on open spaces 

 beneath the trees as assistant decoys. With wings 

 closed to their sides, resting on their breast bones, they 

 can be fixed with heads erect or craning forward as if 

 in search of food, by passing the upper end of the stick 

 through the lower portion of the beak, the opposite 

 end being stuck into the ground beneath the crop of 

 the bird." 



Great care should be taken by the keeper in selecting 

 the cover for the "guns," and he should also warn the 

 latter as to the necessity of their clothing being as near 

 as possible akin to the colour of the cover in which they 

 are standing. 



Capercailzie 



In placing the guns for capercailzie-driving, know- 

 ledge of the usual flight of the birds is of value. In our 

 experience capercailzie generally come out of covert and 

 then take a wide sweep round and close to it and then 

 fly in again. They seldom fly out into the open. Guns 

 should be placed quite near the covert. In preserving 

 the stock, care must be taken, as in all other cases, to 

 eliminate vermin. 



