284 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
The sneak-boat may be made on the same lines as above 
for still water, and as small as 11 ft. long, decked over with 
quarter-inch-thick deck, the latter merely to carry a screen of 
grasses, reeds, or twigs to conceal the gunner. The large 
gondola can be rowed with two pairs of oars, and poled or 
sculled by means of a crutch fixed on the side near the stern, 
in the same manner as a punt. 
We might refer to the old-fashioned and almost out-of-date 
mud-boats or mud-punts; but to do so would entail space 
beyond the limits of our subject. Itis beyond our scope to state 
further than that such boats are in use even up to the present 
day (though not, as a rule, with much success, as birds nowa- 
days seem to be too wary to be taken with them), and that 
they are simply flat boards with some slight side protection, 
and are ‘‘slid” over the mud to birds, by their occupants 
lying flat on the chest. 
