344 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



for a hatchet, which should be inseparable with it, and 

 whose edge should always be sharp. You will appreci- 

 ate it every time you build a blind of willows-, for with 

 it the most perfect brush blind is the work of a few 

 moments. My shell-box is made of wood, painted lead 

 color, water-proofed, has leather handle on edge, is 

 16 1-2 inches long, 10 inches wide, and 6 1-2 inches^ 

 deep. I always use it for a seat. Don't consider your- 

 self properly accoutred unless you have a rubber coat- 

 Get a good one, dead-grass color, tough. Depend on 

 it, it will be a good investment, for it will last for 

 years. The most pleasant morning may be only a 

 deceitful prelude that wiU be followed by a stormy 

 day. 



You wiU find many recesses in your boat ; any one- 

 of them will make an excellent receptacle for a coffee-i 

 pot, — not a great, ill-proportioned thing, but a little 

 two or four-quart pail, which will afford you more gen^ 

 uine luxury than anything you ever carried with you. 

 Consider one of these part of your outfit, and always, 

 have it with you in the boat. 



Blinds. — The bump of secretiveness of the duck- 

 shooter should be fully developed, and if extra large 

 the better, for the surest road to success is the aptness, 

 that one shows to hide himself properly at any and all 

 places, and to do it without changing the appearance 

 of the place where he is hidden. He should be thor- 

 oughly secreted ; still, in thus placing himself out of 

 sight, he must always have uppermost in mind the 

 thought of building his blind just sufficiently thick and 

 high to afford him ample protection, without conspic- 

 uity. All beginners try to build a blind that will hide 

 them, never thinking for a moment that whUe they are 



