nd it.
Instead of the birds being liberated from the enclosure as already
described, they are caught, placed in hampers, and conveyed to some
convenient spot at a distance from home, and then liberated in the
numbers required. The birds naturally fly straight home, and sometimes
fly well. Care must be taken to set them free amongst surroundings they
know, otherwise they are cowed like a rabbit liberated away from its
burrow. It is also advisable to place some obstacle across their line of
flight, and about sixty yards in front of the guns, so as to make the
birds rise well. The last plan has the obvious disadvantage that the
ducks must be cramped to a certain extent by their imprisonment in the
hampers, and it savours too much of the artificial to ever prove a
complete success. On the other hand, the method described as the third
works well; the birds are not crowded, but on being liberated are glad
to escape; they are frightened and mean to fly well: but best of all
your breeding stock and immature birds will, if this principle be
adopted, know nothing of the shoot, and on being let go, will settle
down in a very few hours and will assist in taming those birds which
have been shot at but escaped. Whatever you do be careful to conceal all
your plans from your guns, when artificial methods are adopted; the day
is always more enjoyable if the guests cannot see how their host manages
matters.

[Illustration: LADIES IN WAITING]

Ducks are extraordinarily good barometers, and by their behaviour on
the water invariably give warning of coming rain or storm.

No one who has kept wild ducks long has failed to notice their peculiar
uneasiness before bad weather.

Suddenly one bird with outstretched wings will dash madly on the surface
of the water, and behaving much in the same way as a flapper chased by a
dog, throw itself into the air, and dive suddenly on alighting again: in
a moment this is taken up by every bird on the water, until one sees
the extraordinary sight of two or three hundred ducks behaving just as
if they were mad. They dash in all directions and appear quite unable to
control themselves. When all this is noticed there is pretty sure to be
rain within twelve hours.

The last but by no means least sporting form of duck shooting must now
receive a little attention. I allude to Flight Shooting. As winter comes
on the ducks' natural instincts have begun to assert themselves, and
regularly at dusk, heads will g