THE BROADS. 37 
R. B. stood handy with a walking-stick gun prepared to wipe the eye of either 
or both. He never got the chance, for she fell to an easy shot before she 
reached him. We now adjourned to lunch, at which my strange costume, the 
most prominent feature of which was a pair of pants soaked brown to the 
middle of the calves, provoked much merriment, until someone discovered that, 
owing to a servant’s error, soap and water was the only beverage contained in 
our flasks. 
Thus refreshed, and with our interest stimulated anew by Z 
statement that there was a small Warbler somewhere on the marsh different 
to any he had ever seen before, we determined to enter a part where the 
vegetation was thicker still. I stuck to my costume as being incapable of 
further depreciation, but S—— thought to improve upon it by entering in 
boots, but with bare legs; it may be said at once that this was a failure. Cut 
by the sedge, and stung by various insects, his calves next day presented the 
appearance of balloons, and, while we were shooting, he was lying on the sofa 
wrestling with an incipient attack of blood poisoning, which he only just 
Ia 
Ss 
succeeded in warding off. 
But to return to the Broads. I had hopes from Z 
the Warbler mentioned might turn out an Aquatic, and I knocked over two 
suspicious creatures that we put out. These birds, though they proved only 
to be Sedge Warblers, gave us an opportunity of admiring Z *s extra- 
ordinary powers as a retriever. When the first bird fell in what appeared a 
hopeless jungle, he never despaired for a moment, but quickly set to work to 
trace the passage of the shot. This he did by looking for shot holes and tears 
in the reeds; later on he found a feather, then a fleck of blood, and finally the 
bird itself was brought to light. His tracking powers were worthy of a Red 
Indian, and when the second bird fell in a place little less difficult we were all 
quite prepared to see it found. While resting from our exertions for a few 
moments, we got a distant view of what Z—— called a “ Game-Hawk.” I 
could not identify it myself at the distance, but I gathered from his description 
that it was a Peregrine. As time went on, the prospect of an hour’s railway 
’s description that 
journey in soaked boots grew less and less enticing, and when Z—— suggested 
that we should go to his home, get tea, and endeavour to dry ourselves, 
everyone jumped at the proposal. The visit was a great success, and I 
have seldom enjoyed a tea more than the one set before us in this snug little 
cottage. We sat with our feet in blankets while our boots and socks were 
being baked in the kitchen oven, the end of it being that we returned dry- 
shod in the evening, possessed at last of some Bearded Tits, and having spent 
a thoroughly delightful day. 
