IN TBE MARSH. 143 



than take any sucli chances ; besides, if you expect to 

 shoot in the same spot the following day, it is much 

 better to depart before dark and allow the birds to settle 

 there in the twilight undisturbed for the night, they 

 will decoy much better on the morrow. If you stay 

 until pitch dark, the flames from your gun frighten 

 them much more than any reports they hear during 

 daylight. In the daytime they expect it, but when 

 night comes, and once they are driven from their 

 roost, they avoid that spot in the future. 



Where we are now is perfectly familiar to me, and 

 we will stay till dark. We will gather up the decoys 

 now, for soon darkness will be on us, and we cannot 

 do it then ; besides, decoys in the faint light do but 

 little good. When ducks come in in the twilight, 

 they come to spend the night, never dream of danger, 

 and swoop in with a swish that shows their fearless- 

 ness. Come, now that we have picked the decoys up, 

 we will cross over and stay until dark, on the east edge 

 of the rice, facing the west; because the reflection of 

 the setting sun on the sky brings the birds plainer to 

 view. Look to the west ! See how bright the sky is ; 

 how beautiful after the setting of the sun ! Notice 

 those tiny clouds. From here they seem but a trilling 

 height above the horizon, their under edges touclied 

 with crimson and gold, their centre of lavender and 

 black, while their tips seem of crustated whiteness. 

 Turn around now, look to the east, and see the con- 

 trast. No bright colors, no brilliant contrasts ; simply 

 one gray, dull, and lifeless pall overspreading the earth. 

 For a few moments we are kept busy firing at. the 

 incoming ducks, each striving to drop them into the 

 open water. They come in from all points of the com- 



