28G BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



within gunshot ; on fine, calm mornings especially they 

 fly very high- — up in the clouds. During' rough, 

 boisterous weather, when the force of the wind is 

 dead against the fowl, their flight is lower, and on 

 such mornings a pair or two may be secured before 

 breakfast. As it is precisely on such occasions that 

 one cannot go afloat in a gunning-punt, the morning- 

 flight then affords an interesting, and sometimes exciting, 

 means of relieving, for an hour or two, the tedium of what 

 would otherwise be a blank day. 



A good eye and some judgment are required to 

 distinguish the different species of fowl as they speed 

 overhead. The local gunners of the coast often have 

 remarkably good knowledge of these points ; the casual 

 amateur little or none. I recollect one of these latter 

 displaying what he called "a wigeon" he had shot. 

 When the palpable fact was pointed out that the bird 

 was a common mallard drake, he remarked, "Well, 

 that's what we call a wigeon in the south, at any rate! " 

 Next morning our friend strolled in to breakfast with 

 a couple of brent geese slung over the barrels of his 

 1 2-bore, and ostensibly slain therewith ; during the day, 

 however, I chanced to discover that his success was 

 traceable to a professional fowler's cottage among the 

 sand-links he affected ! 



There is some art in using a large gun and killing 

 long shots from a prostrate position at fowl passing 

 fast and high overhead, especially in the half-light. 

 All wildfowl fly fast, some at tremendous speed ; and 

 even those, such as geese, which appear to go slowly, 

 are travelling far faster than they seem. Many a 

 first-rate game-shot, who, when erect on his legs, may 

 be tolerably sure of his right-and-left under all reasonable 



