THE JERSEY COAST. 105 
heart, testing his nerves, and filling his bag to reple- 
tion. When the object is to kill the greatest num- 
ber possible, they are permitted to alight among the 
stools and collect together before the gun is fired; 
then the first discharge is followed rapidly by the 
second, which tears among their thinned ranks as 
they rise; and, if there be a second gun, by the third 
and fourth barrel, till frequently all are killed. The 
scientific and sportsmanlike mode is to fire before 
they alight, selecting two or three together and fir- 
ing at the foremost. 
It is a glorious thing to see a flock of marlin or 
willet, or perhaps the chief of all, the sickle-bills, 
swerve from their course away up in the heavens, 
and after a moment’s uncertainty reply to the sports- 
man’s deceitful call and turn towards his false copies 
of themselves. As they approach, the rich sienna 
brown of the marlin and curlew seems to color the 
sky and reflect a ruddy hue upon surrounding ob- 
jects ; or the black and white of the barred wings of 
the willet makes them resemble birds hewn from 
veined marble. The sportsman’s heart leaps to his 
throat, as crouching down with straining eye and 
nerve, grasping his faithful gun, he awaits with 
eager anxiety the proper moment; then, rising ere 
they are aware of the danger, he selects the spot 
where their crowding bodies and jostling wings shut 
out the clouds beyond, and pours in his first most 
deadly barrel; and quickly bringing to bear the 
other as best he may among the now frightened 
creatures as they dart about, he delivers it before he 
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