. Feathered game of the Northeast . ng in merry greeting;the awakened crow gives out an occasional caw-ing as he starts forth from the pines for hisbreakfast on the shore, and just out of rangeof the watchers gun a bunch of big blue heronsplaying follow my leader passes by in slowand dignified flight, northward bound. The de-coys anchored across the. gentle breeze are rid-ing motionless in a calm streak under the shelterof the ledge, but in plain sight and sure to benoticed by any passing flock coming in fromsea, and all is ready. While still too dark for him to shoot, the gun-ner has seen sha
. Feathered game of the Northeast . ng in merry greeting;the awakened crow gives out an occasional caw-ing as he starts forth from the pines for hisbreakfast on the shore, and just out of rangeof the watchers gun a bunch of big blue heronsplaying follow my leader passes by in slowand dignified flight, northward bound. The de-coys anchored across the. gentle breeze are rid-ing motionless in a calm streak under the shelterof the ledge, but in plain sight and sure to benoticed by any passing flock coming in fromsea, and all is ready. While still too dark for him to shoot, the gun-ner has seen shadowy forms flitting past in theuncertain foreground, and now with the in-creasing light comes the hurry and rustle ofwings carrying hungry birds to their feedinggrounds inshore. Here they are! Where they came from noone knows, for two seconds ago not a featherwas in sight, but out of the water they appearas if by magic and are almost upon the gunnerbefore he sees them. They have sighted thedecoys and swing in toward their new-found. 0^CO z < 0 Q UJHcn<w QQI Q EED-BEEASTED MERGANSER 411 friends with wings stiffly set and necks out-stretched. In this strange light they look aslarge as geese. Now is the time! As theybunch and wheel, convinced of the cheat, let goat them with both barrels, and in answer to thesudden roar of your discharge down go thesplashing forms of dead and wounded birdsamong the motionless decoys. While the boomof your gun goes echoing about from capeto promontory in circuit of the bay as ifa battery was stationed on every headland, youare hurrying down to the boat to gather up thespoil. You pat yourself on the back—(mentally,of course,)—and think, ^l^Tiat a streak ofshooting I have developed! when, hello!Only one bird! Ah, there is one more swim-ming away and here another, and popping sud-denly out of the depths still another, but most ofthem active and doing their best to put a safedistance between your dangerous company andthemselves, swimming with
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgameandgamebirds
