. Feathered game of the Northeast . gun or laid it aside to pick up his decoysafter a mornings cootless waiting in the oddity in the gentle art of duck-shootingis the practice of hollerin coots, that is, ofmaking a great noise when a flock is passingby out of shot, when they will often turn andcome to the decoys. The report of a gun some-times has the same effect, but we New England-ers are too thrifty to waste powder and leadwhere our vocal organs will serve as well. Next to decoying the use of the gunningfloat is the most effective method of killingCoots. The gunning float is a long
. Feathered game of the Northeast . gun or laid it aside to pick up his decoysafter a mornings cootless waiting in the oddity in the gentle art of duck-shootingis the practice of hollerin coots, that is, ofmaking a great noise when a flock is passingby out of shot, when they will often turn andcome to the decoys. The report of a gun some-times has the same effect, but we New England-ers are too thrifty to waste powder and leadwhere our vocal organs will serve as well. Next to decoying the use of the gunningfloat is the most effective method of killingCoots. The gunning float is a long, lowcraft, drawing but little water and showingonly a foot or so above the surface when prop-erly trimmed down with ballast. In the fall,for use in the open water they are trimmedwith rockweed; in the marshes withthatch. In the spring and winter monthsthe proper thing is snow and ice to representa drifting ice-cake. It takes sharp eyes to de-tect the dangerous one among the many harm-less pieces of ice when the gunner, clad in his. oo u Q-J OQI m HHD THE AMERICAN SCOTER 393 white suit, is working his cautious way alongtoward the feeding flocks. The deception is socomplete that I have known that crafty old pi-rate, the crow, to almost alight on the nose ofa float when it was being pushed after a flockof seafowl. This float gunning is the methodmost used for all duck and goose shooting onthe eastern New England coast line. The Coots are often approached by sail-boatswhen there is a good sailing breeze, the craftgetting to windward and then coming downupon them. As these birds always rise againstthe breeze and are heavy in flight and slow ingetting under way there is often an opportunityto get in several shots before they are out ofrange. I remember discovering on one of my shoot-ing trips a new and well-wooded island inwaters where I knew no island had stood be-fore, and was surprised and alarmed to see myfind move bravely along with a bone in itsteeth, against wind and tide. I
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