WILDFOWL OF THE NORTH-EAST COAST 295 



worth shooting" in their half-starved condition. Scaup- 

 ducks, always tame, will now admit of approach even on 

 foot — they are feeding - , perforce, on the wandering whelk ; 

 while the lesser waders hardly take the trouble to g"et 

 out of one's way. The effect of long- and severe frost, in 

 short, is to tame and subdue all wildfowl, and render them 

 accessible to a punt, though mergansers and golden-eyes 

 are always the least affected. 



During the continuance of the frost, wildfowl enjoy one 

 great safeguard, in the ice itself, from the ascendency 

 which would otherwise accrue at such times to the 

 gunning-punt. As already mentioned, it is most im- 

 prudent to adventure these frail craft among the drifting 

 floes, where they run a serious risk of being stove, to say 

 nothing of the impossibility of holding a course, or of 

 working a big gun under such conditions. Moreover, 

 during neap tides the accumulations of stranded ice along 

 the "full-sea mark" render large areas of the flats beyond 

 wholly inaccessible to craft of any description. The very 

 best chances to score occur, therefore, not so much during 

 the frost itself (though glorious sport may then be enjoyed) 

 as on the first break-up of the ice. The fowl are then 

 so intent on getting a "square meal," and so determined 

 to make up for the hardships and short commons of 

 the "glacial epoch," that excellent opportunities may be 

 secured by those who are lucky enough to be on the spot 

 at exactly the right moment. Within thirty-six hours of 

 the break-up of the frost, every vestige of ice has dis- 

 appeared, carried off to sea by the tide, and normal con- 

 ditions are at once restored. 



Incidentally, I may remark that the effect of the lowest 

 temperatures on the human body when exposed for many 

 hours together in a punt at sea, is relatively much less 



