26 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



filling their barrels they would drink and drink 

 again ; to them that bubbling, sparkling water was 

 life itself. 



Water was all around them in the lagoons, in 

 the fleets and dykes ; this could be used for washing 

 purposes, for it was not salt, and the greater portion 

 not even brackish, but it was dead water ; and those 

 who were compelled at times to drink it suffered 

 from ague and delirious marsh fever. I write 

 always feelingly on the subject, for I have gone 

 through it all. 



There were only the birds to watch in the way 

 of amusement ; and even the Dotterels at certain 

 seasons were conspicuous by their absence, for they 

 have their times and seasons. The only motive in 

 searching for the eggs was that they might be 

 placed with others on those long loops and lines 

 that all boys delighted to have at that time. The 

 nests were not ruthlessly robbed, of any bird ; one 

 here and a couple there might be taken, as the case 

 might be, to form their out-of-doors collections ; 

 they dared not get near the house with them, under 

 heavy pains and penalties. A scrub-broom, a pair 

 of pattens, a wet mop, or a bit of rope's end, no 

 matter what, the first object that might come handy, 

 would be used if a boy, in his eagerness to show 

 another some new find, got too near the house with 

 his treasures. 



As I was generally the one to whom the fresh 

 finds were shown, I had often to clear out as well. 

 For our marsh-land folks would have it that dire 



