THE GAME -DUCKS. 171 



description. In many places these wastes of sand are of 

 immense extent, a considerable portion never being covered, 

 even by the highest spring tides. At low water, mile after 

 mile of flat red-brown sand lies exposed — the result of ages 

 of ceaseless struggle between land and sea. Far away across 

 the level expanse the white line of breakers bounds the 

 horizon to seaward ; and one may wander for hours over the 

 yielding spongy surface without an object in sight, except 

 the weather-beaten ribs of some old wreck half swallowed in 

 the shifting sands, or perhaps a big grey seal cautiously 

 basking in the bright October sun, always close to the edge 

 of a deep-water channel. Presently we come across a spot 

 where the smooth, unrufiled level is disturbed, and the sand 

 imprinted with the paddlings of many webbed feet. All 

 around lie strewn for half an acre feathers, great and small 

 — many long and strong quills — and other vestiges of a 

 departed multitude. That is where the Grey Geese roosted 

 last night. To-night, if you lie in wait for their arrival, 

 they will perhaps take up their quarters a mile or more away. 

 The flight-gunners bury themselves in the sand at such places 

 as this, on the barest oft' chance of getting a shot ; but, on so 

 vast an area of ground, it is the merest fluke if the Geese 

 should happen to alight within range, and, indeed, the 

 chances of a shot are almost 7iil. 



The sand-bars are of course intersected by the main stream 

 of the estuary, which traverses the sand by one or more deep- 

 water channels on its course to the sea outside. On these 

 channels, and along the inner margin of the sand-bar, the 

 strong sweep of the tide, banking up the yielding material, 

 cuts out broad flats on a slightly lower level than that of the 

 sand-bar itself, and these flats, as the tide rises, form shallow 

 backwaters. It is to these backwaters, and to the edges of 

 the main channels, that the Mallard are especially fond of 

 resorting to rest and sleep during the day, and here, during 

 the flowing tide, some excellent shots can now and then be 

 obtained at these fowl, particularly if (as is often the case) 

 the sand-bar lies remote from the quarters of the local punt- 

 gunners. These desert tracts which I have endeavoured to 

 describe are usually neglected by punters, who, as a rule. 



