SLEDGING FOR WILD-FOWL, 177 



smallest hillock or hollow alters the level of the launch and dis- 

 arranges the position of the gun : consequently the launcher is just as 

 likely to lire the whole charge into the mud a few yards in advance 

 of the sledge, as he is to cover the spot where the birds are feeding- ; 

 or, it may be, the shot flies high over their heads. The chances 

 are two to one against its going to the exact spot intended by the 

 sledger ; and in this manner hundreds of charges of ammunition are 

 expended without the smallest remuneration. 



In the absence of pan-holes wherewith to guide the venturous 

 sledger, the difficulty of discovering the place or position of the birds 

 is very much increased, it being impossible to see them at night on 

 dark mud. It then becomes necessary to shoot entirely by guess, 

 when, considering the uncertainty as to the level of the mud, the chance 

 of killing must be very remote ; and the pursuit does much mischief 

 to the locality — in driving the wild-fowl away, and inducing 

 them, by the most direct and ruinous means possible, to forsake their 

 haunts.* 



The sledger dresses himself in water-boots, with tarpaulin trousers and 

 jacket ; but notwithstanding these, he generally gets wet, and be- 

 daubed with mud from head to foot. If he encounters a creek in his 

 travels, he takes his seat in the launch, and rows over it ; and is 

 thus sometimes prowling about the mud the whole night long ; 

 more frequently than otherwise, returning- home without having earned 

 a penny. The proceeding is not only dirty, but laborious in the 

 extreme ; and the birds must always be approached from the leeward- 

 most position. 



The sledge or launch is generally painted either of a dark colour 

 corresponding with the ooze, or it is besmeared with tar, and not 

 unfrequently with mud, so as to be made invisible at night. 



The danger of these men shooting each other on their midnight 

 excursions, by mistaking a sledger and his launch for wild-fowl, is 

 greater than that attending* punting on the darkest nights, because of 

 the difficulty in distinguishing a dark- coloured launch on a dark 

 ooze ; whereas, on the water, the detection is more readily made. 

 Sledgers are obliged to be extremely cautious and particular in work- 

 ing their course always in one direction, and that to the windward, 

 or with the moonlight bearing upon them. 



* Colonel Hawker says of this pursuit, " It had an unfortunate effect on the birds, 

 by driving them in a great measure from the Lymington shores to Poole har- 

 bour, and other localities where the mud will not admit of launching." 



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