298 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
on open water as a fowling-boat than a sailing craft when a 
large gun is aboard and fixed ready for firing. A trial will 
prove this to those who doubt. Our foregoing remarks, of 
course, do not refer to punts or other flat-bottomed craft. 
Sometimes wildfowl cannot be approached in the best and 
lowest of punts. At such times wary fowl will not usually 
permit a straw to float within gunshot of them. At other 
times ducks and other fowl will permit boats and other such 
craft to sail or run close past them, and on these occasions they 
will generally allow anything afloat to approach them, no 
matter how large—punts can come up as close as, or even 
closer than, may be desired. It is at such times that 
the motor launch or any other high-sided craft with a large 
gun aboard may look for success. Wildfowl are curious birds 
to understand. The countless hosts of wary widgeon and 
mallards which have been frequenting a large estuary for 
weeks without permitting a floatage of drift-ware to come 
nearer than a quarter of a mile will, for some unknown reason, 
pack up in companies on the sands and go fast asleep without 
a single sentinel. The punter should be afloat at these times 
to compensate himself for days of disappointment. We 
have known brent geese swim up on a rising tide in flocks 
ranging from a dozen to many thousands, and permit a punt 
without cover to come repeatedly within range (the large 
masses not quite so near), and take toll of their numbers. 
Three shots resulted in eighty-six brent. It might be added, 
however, that the duration of hard frost prevailing at the time 
was thought to be the reason of these brent behaving in what 
appeared to those personally interested in the matter, an un- 
suspectingly foolish manner. 
The motor launch here figured is designed specially for the 
wildfowler. With a draught of nine inches she may be run in 
very shallow water. The general arrangement is a half-moon 
tunnel aft, in which rotate a pair of three-bladed propellers 
