iCu.vrs. I ct II, 



TAEAS. 1 tt2. 



side of the point — now the smooth one. They came 

 at first singly, then in couples, then in threes and fours, 

 often in dozens. Pintail, teal, widgeon and duck were 

 hurrying overhead for quite half an hour. Being fortu- 

 nately well supj^lied with cartridges, a? our snipe- 

 shooting had not been nearly as good as we had expect- 

 ed, we fired between seventy and eighty shots almost 

 as fast as it was possible to load and fire, and until the 

 ammunition was exhausted. Even then the birds were 

 passing over, though the great bulk of them had gone. 

 That day and the next, we picked up with the aid of a 

 good dog, nearly fifty dead birds ; no doubt several 

 escaped wounded and others fell at a distance. This, 

 with No. 8 shot, may be regarded as good enougli. It 

 was the best half hour's sport we ever experienced, or 

 shall ever be likely to enjoy again." 



In the succeeding chapter the author's own 

 attempt will be made to describe in some detail the 

 sensations of a keen shot vU-<i-vis the driven bird. 

 Suffice it here to say that there are no "sitters" in this 

 kind of shooting, that there are not many near birds, 

 that the pace is usually a high one and that birds come 

 at all kinds of angles and heights. Opportunities arise 

 and are fre(|ueiitly successfully converted of shots that 

 do not occur in ordinary shooting, or, if they do, are 

 often left alone as too difficult; here however vou are 

 getting plenty of them, and you attempt the apparently 

 impossible and sometimes surprise yourself. For the 

 same reason, if you are making the same mistake over 

 and over again, you have time to think things out and 

 consider what it is you are doing wrong. Then, having 

 found what seems to be the solution, you have the 

 means and the chance to test it in practice at the time. 

 And the tense excitement of it. — ! Away in the distance, 

 high over the open water of which you command so 

 good a view, a flock appears. Will they come to you, 

 or will they not ? If they do, what kind of a shot is it 

 going to be, and what are you going to do, in the mini- 

 mum time, to solve all the complicated issues (different 

 almost for every shot^ involved in hitting them ? 



CHAPTER 11. 



Duck Driving and Butt Shooting Described 



2 Ir was ten o'clock of a beautiful bright morning 

 not far on the other side of Christmas, and the punts, 

 each manned with an eager sportsman or two, were 

 pushing off from the shore and making for the butts, of 

 which there were eighteen on the water. "Yours 



