CTHAPTER XI. 



DIRECTIONS FOR BUILDING A BATTERY. 



A battery, or sink-boat as it is called in some 

 parts of the country, is a narrow box with a plat- 

 form around it, so arranged that the weight of the 

 shooter will sink it so nearly level with the water 

 that the ducks will not notice it when it is hidden 

 among the stand of stools that are always anchored 

 around it. The box is almost square, narrowed a 

 little on the bottom and at the foot, twenty-two 

 inches across at the head, eighteen at the foot on the 

 top, and four less on the bottom; the two end pieces 

 are of one and a half inch oak, the sides of three- 

 quarter inch white pine. It is fifteen inches deep, 

 except at the head, which shoals up to six inches, 

 beginning about two feet abaft the end. This is 

 done in order to enable the sportsman to look over 

 the edge of the box without getting a cramp in his 

 neck, and besides to reduce the flotation of the bat- 

 tery as much as possible, which is a most important 

 thing to effect. The narrowing of the bottom is for 

 the same purpose of diminishing the buoyancy, for 

 as it has to be sunk to the level of the water if the 

 weight of the sportsman will not bring it down suf- 

 ficiently, iron weights, or what is far preferable, 

 iron decoys, have to be placed in it or on it, and 

 weights in the box are always in the way. 



