A Night of Wild Fowling 47 



their natural size. A gull comes flapping over on the 

 hunt, for a dead or wounded bird is a nice meal for him. 



From a bunch of dead flags with a scape-scape-scape up 

 springs a snipe, with that twist-and-turn-about flight 

 peculiar to himself and his relatives. He is not fired at, 

 for if there are any fowl in hiding anywhere in his line 

 of flight that cry will move them. 



It has done so. Three mallards rise from a dyke ; they 

 are low down, and fly straight to where I am standing by 

 the willows ; three in a line, their green heads glistening 

 in the sun — for it is morning — and the red-brown of their 

 breasts is showing distinctly. The}^ are near enough now, 

 I think — two of them, at any rate. 



" Bang ! " " Quack, quack ! " A twist and turn of 

 their necks and bodies tells that they have been hit, but 

 they do not fall. It serves one right, for it is almost 

 useless firing at fowl coming right at you ; the breast 

 feathers are so thick. It is a warning to resist tempta- 

 tion for the future. 



As we near the Saltings, something springs from a patch 

 of dead flag, which we shoot, and it proves to be a fine 

 specimen of the Short-eared Owl (Strix brachyotes) or 

 ' ' woodcock owl " of the marshmen. His light body and 

 hawk-like flight often lead folks to take him for some 

 other bird. He hunts by day as well as in the evening ; 

 any hen-footed fowl is his prey — that is, if it is not too 

 big for him. 



The shore-shooters know him well ; they see him, just 

 as the light begins to fade, come skimming over th Q flats, 

 now high up, the next moment close to the ground. All 

 at once he stops, and fans with his wings, like a kestrel, 

 over a tuft of rushes. That fanning of the wings is 

 remarkable ; it causes a current of air, much stronger than 

 any one would imagine, which rattles and stirs the dry 

 rushes, so that any creature that has sheltered there 

 comes out, and the owl gets it. His near relative, the 

 long-eared owl, has the same tactics. They do not eat 

 all they catch at the time, but hide it till wanted, and the 

 contents of their larder would surprise many people. 



Gaining the foot of the sea wall, we crouch down for 



