424 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



all along their line. Well we both knew that this was 

 the chance of a lifetime, and for some pregnant seconds the 

 punt flew forward through hissing waves. Then at eighty 

 yards, the whole host "lifted" as one bird, the roar 

 of wings resounding like thunder, while 10 oz. of BB 

 cut a yawning gap through those black ranks. In all, 

 twenty-one geese fell direct to the shot — a capital perfor- 

 mance for a gun of only 6o-lb. weight. The cripples 

 at first formed a tolerably solid flotilla, and the play of the 

 "stopper" speedily stretched all save one or two of the 

 outermost on the sea : but it takes time to catch so many, 

 and in the increasing darkness it was impossible to secure 

 the latter that night. At dawn we recovered five more ; 

 besides making, during that day, two more fair shots. 



One delightful feature of punt-gunning during frost 

 such as then prevailed, is the opportunity of observing, 

 at very close quarters, birds which are ordinarily unap- 

 proachably wild. The intensity of the frost, covering the 

 oozes with thin sheets of ice between tides, has the effect 

 of making many fowl quite tame. Mallards especially 

 were frequently passed within thirty yards, some sitting 

 asleep on the mud, with bills tucked under back-feathers, 

 others paddling about the water's edge, dabbling about 

 among the sea-grass, all quite unconscious of our proximity. 

 The mallards were in small bunches of three or four 

 up to a dozen ; and all these were the heavy native-bred 

 ducks, driven down to the open water of the coast by the 

 severe weather, their ordinary haunts on the moorland 

 lochs being frozen and snowed up. Needless to say, we 

 did not molest them. It is unusual to meet with these 

 heavy ducks on the coast at this season, except under such 

 exceptional climatic conditions as prevailed that March. 

 They are easily distinguished from the foreign ducks ; 



