112 CHAPTER XVII. 



And now you will want to know how all this was possible. You will 

 be wondering where the ducks came from and how it came about that 

 just when we wanted them they were coming to us. This is the way of 

 it: The Chief buys mallard eggs to add to the store he acquires from 

 the setting of his own ducks. These eggs are put under hens, and the 

 ducklings hatched out are placed in one of three different ponds or 

 lakes upon the estate. 



They are fed night and morning, at a point distant about half a mile 

 from the home waters. As little fellows, they are, of course, fed fully. 

 As they grow old enough to walk well and fly they are gradually coaxed 

 further and further up the hill until at last they reach the full dis- 

 tance. 



Here, after a time, they are quickly taught to fly back, after the 

 morning and evening meal. This becomes a habit with them, and a 

 flight always follows a feeding. Sometimes several wide circuits, but 

 always a return to the home waters. When the time comes to shoot, the 

 large wire netting partial enclosure in which the birds have been feed- 

 ing is completed while they are within. Then they are released at the 

 signal in lots of from one to five. There you have a description of the 

 machinery which guarantees to the sportsman a shot, or as many shots 

 as he likes, when and where he desires. 



Exclusive atttention was devoted the next morning to the pheasants. 

 Those lengthy-tailed fellows are great woods birds. They love to lie 

 up and take hiding in the cover which a forest furnishes. To drive 

 them it is necessary to beat out the woods and brush. The line of 

 beaters, formed very much as in the partridge shooting in Norfolk, on 

 this morning began a forward movement from well beyond the far 

 side of a grove of trees. The five guns were stationed in the stubble 

 under the lee of a hill. 



It is rather a trying moment, indeed there are several of them, while 

 one waits for the first shot of a day. Nothing happened on the initial 

 stand to break the serene calm of the early pleasant morning. Not a 

 bird came over. A little later in going to a new stand we walked up 

 some rough ground and killed a few pheasants as they flushed in front, 

 but it was not until the third drive that things began to happen. From 

 then on the fun was fast and furious. 



