THE GAME-DUCKS 313 



of moonlight each month that an attempt is possible, and 

 then adverse climatic conditions — such, for example, as 

 a breeze of wind, or heavy clouds obscuring the moon — 

 may preclude all chance of success. There are probably 

 not a dozen nights throughout the whole winter, on an 

 average, when conditions are even fairly suitable ; on 

 some of these it may not be convenient to go out, and 

 now the useless and mistaken legal restrictions have 

 deprived us of the month of March — one of the best w r e 

 had. The proportion of wigeon killed annually is very 

 small indeed, compared with the numbers of these birds. 

 I have roughly estimated it, in different seasons, as vary- 

 ing from 10 to 15 per cent. The wigeon shot on our 

 coasts in winter, whether they be counted by hundreds 

 or by thousands, have no appreciable influence on the 

 numbers or abundance of the species. They are of 

 less importance than the "drop in a bucket"; and the 

 same remark applies equally to the brent geese and all 

 other winter wildfowl. There are those, including Parlia- 

 ment men, cabinet-naturalists and sentimentalists who 

 may yet doubt this ; but that is only because they have 

 no means of knowing better. All the wildfowl that can 

 be killed on salt water in these islands make no difference 

 whatever to the breed. 



Before daybreak, or, at latest, on the first symptoms of 

 dawn, both mallard and wigeon depart for the open sea 

 to spend the day : and there, on our exposed coast, they 

 are inaccessible to man, whether by punt or sailing-boat. 

 I have seen (in pictures) a dingey running into a page of 

 sea literally strewn with dead and dying mallards. This 

 is not my experience in actual practice. The world is 

 wide, and there may be spots where such feats are pos- 

 sible : I will believe when I have seen them performed. 



