MANAGEMENT OF THE PUNT-GUN. 139 



be condemned, because it induces wild-fowl to forsake the water, 

 especially if they are fired at by nig-ht. 



I should be much disposed to believe, that Col. Hawker's successful 

 tests of this machine were confined to the shots to which he alludes 

 having' made with it at leverets, starlings and some other land- 

 birds, less watchful than wild-fowl. Most sportsmen are familiar 

 with the anecdote he relates, of a marvellous shot at starling-s with 

 the stanchion-g'im, on Lord Rodney's estate, at Alresford. If the 

 Colonel had ever made a successful shot at wild-fowl, on open 

 country, by aid of the machine, why not relate the circumstance, in- 

 stead of the less sportsmanlike proceeding' of shooting- leverets and 

 starling's with a stanchion-gun ? 



Many of Colonel Hawker's inventions were mere experiments ; 

 some of them thoroughly impracticable, and such as were never 

 successfully employed ; but, notwithstanding, they are introduced 

 in his work on Guns and Shooting, with all the confidence imaginable. 



