200 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



in a hollow rush stem, an' blowed in it like a 

 trumpet, and that was how he boomed, for they'd 

 sin him at it an' heard him." Oh, how our shore- 

 shooters roared as they took down their " ager- 

 mixter," for which all that valuable information had 

 provided the funds, when the gentleman's back was 

 turned. How kind they were to him when they 

 saw him off, gun and all, in the morning ; how each 

 one insisted on shaking hands with him twice over, 

 until his hand was numbed with the fervour of 

 the clasps from their horny fists ! Their kindness 

 touched him, and he told them that he had not the 

 least idea that they felt so kindly towards him. 

 With his left hand, his right-hand fingers were a 

 bit numbed, he drew from his pocket two half- 

 crowns — florins had not come to the front at that 

 time — and told them to drink his health. They 

 said farewell, and wished him luck. Then they 

 went back, drank his health, and roared again. 



It is no use trying to pass for what you are not, 

 and never will be. From childhood the whole of 

 my own life, sixty years of it, has been passed in the 

 open air, by the waters and in the woods, by day 

 and by night. I mean by this all my leisure time — 

 plenty of it — trying to find out for my own pleasure 

 and instruction, never for money profit, the ways 

 and means of God's creatures in their own homes 

 and haunts. Yes, sixty years of it, for long before 

 I knew my letters I played with creatures that 

 others would not touch. 



How often have I stood on the fringe of a wide 



