128 
FRANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 
and inlets, forms an excellent feeding ground throughout its 
whole extent, for almost every species of the Duck tribe which 
is in the habit of visiting our shores. To the mode of shooting, 
then, on the island, we shall first direct our attention, as it is 
practised, with such slight variations as the nature of the waters 
and the habits of the fowl may require, in almost every part of the 
United States. That most murderous mode of destroying Geese, 
Brant, &c., from a battery , has, a a it certainly ought to be, been 
abolished by an act of the legislature of the State; for though a 
greater number of birds may be killed by this method than any 
other, yet as the batteries were anchored on almost every flat 
where there was a possibility of their feeding, it had the effect 
of driving them from their usual haunts, and compelling them 
to seejk for refuge in some place less securely fortified. The 
battery is formed of a deal-box, about seven feet long, three 
wide, and two deep; from the rim of this a platform of board 
runs off at right angles, about six feet on every side, and the 
interior is caulked to render it water-tight. This is moored on 
some shoal where the birds are observed to be in the habit of 
resorting, and ballasted with stones until the platform merely 
floats on the surface of the water; this flat surface is then lightly 
covered with sedge, so that at a very short distance nothing but 
a small quantity of apparently floating weed is discernible. 
Before the first faint streaks of light mark the approach of day, 
the shooter, in a light skiff, which can be easily paddled by one 
man, makes his appearance on the ground, and at once prepares 
for action. The stool-birds are first placed about twenty yards 
from the battery; these are Ducks, Brant, or Geese, as he may ex¬ 
pect the particular species to fly, though the three different kinds 
are all frequently represented. However, we do not think that 
Ducks will ‘ come up’ to the stool with the same confidence 
when this is the case. The stools are made of wood, and painted 
so as really to pass as very respectable personifications of the 
various feathered bipeds they are intended to represent, and are 
retained in their positions by a string with a stone tied to the 
other end. When two or three dozen of these decoys are kept 
