Aid A BIRD COLLECTOR’S MEDLEY. 
be no unseemly cachinnations to distract your attention from the operation in 
hand. You may buy your experience dearly, but you will have the fun all to 
yourself, and this means something to a sensitive man. 
The first time we ever went out we spent a large portion of the morning 
in the doleful task of baling out water let in by an ill-fitting cork, and in due 
course of time we got stranded while trying to stop the leak. In fact, at Dell 
Quay the best thing a beginner can do is to go out just as the tide is coming 
in. The muds around are the last covered, and such birds as are about are 
sure to visit them. You are thus certain of half an hour’s good shooting 
without the risk of getting stuck, and, after this, one can put up with the 
inconvenience of any stoppage incurred while following the retreating tide. 
It must be confessed that after an East Coast estuary, the sport is some- 
what tame so far as the prospect of rarities goes. True, I have in my 
collection an Avocet killed in Emsworth Creek, and a Black-tailed Godwit 
said to have come from Siddlesham, but, as a rule, it is the sort of place where 
one looks upon a Redshank or Little Stint as a good bird, though the part 
near Appledram Sluice is noted for Green Sandpipers, one of which birds once 
nearly cost me a ducking, for I risked a standing shot to get it, and the punt, 
which had been guaranteed by its owner as a conveyance wherein one might 
circumnavigate the Isle of Wight in safety, was sorely tried so far as balance 
went, when I staggered round it after the recoil. Common Sandpipers also 
frequent the drains opposite the sluice, while there is a projecting corner just 
beyond, from which one can get shots at most of the smaller waders as they 
fly round on their way to the last muds of all. 
The reed-fringed water near Fishbourne is doubtless the place where, 
according to Captain Knox, a famous gunner named Carter once secured two 
Bearded Tits; and the drains and small streams in these meadows nearly 
always have in the autumn a good sprinkling of Kingfishers. They often 
stray into the estuary itself, and may be seen sitting on any small posts along 
its margin. 
The Turtle Dove is another bird here commonly met with. They are 
very numerous on the inland fields, and often come down to the edge of the 
saltings, like the domestic pigeons from the Fishbourne farms. At times I 
have seen a Cormorant flying heavily near the old mill, and the commoner 
Gulls, with an occasional Greater Black-back, scatter over the mudflats as 
soon as ever the tide goes down. Wading deep at the edge of the tideway, or 
sitting hunched up in sombre exclusiveness, will be found as a rule at least 
one Heron, often more; but the Herons here are well able to take care of 
themselves, and are a very different race to their New Forest relatives on the 
