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TliK WILU-FOWLER. 



When not actually approaching* wild-fowl, one person sits facing- 

 the prow, to look out for sport and g'ive directions to the other, who 

 rows the boat with a pair of sculls, up creeks and rills, or wherever 

 there may be a prospect of sport ; and notwithstanding- that it is an 

 old-fashioned method of wild-fowl shooting', very good sport may 

 sometimes be had with a boat of this description ; particularly during- 

 sharp weather, when wild-fowl are generally more abundant. A dog- 

 is sometimes carried in the wild-fowl canoe, for the purpose of fetch- 

 ing- the birds after a successful shot has been fired ; but it is not 

 always necessary that a dog- should accompany the sportsman, the 

 better plan being-, to carry a pair of splashers, which the sportsman 

 or liis boatman can put on, and g'o upon the ooze in pursuit of dead 

 and wounded birds ; this is the more usual course, and certainly 

 the more humane, for it must be at a risk of serious constitutional in- 

 jury to a dog- to g-et very wet in sharp weather, and then be com- 

 pelled to remain a long- time in that miserable condition, without exer- 

 cise, in a small open boat ; to say nothing- of the annoyance which 

 must be incurred to the occupants of the canoe, by having- a wet dog 

 at their feet during- the rest of the day. 



The wild-fowl canoe will also be found useful for curlew shooting-, 

 as described under that head (vide post) ; also for plovers, oxbirds, 

 sandpipers, and other frequenters of marshy lands intersected with 

 tidal waters. Three persons may be occasionally accommodated in 

 the canoe, one of whom may carry as larg-e a shoulder-g-un as he can 

 manag-e, whilst another attends the g-reat g-un ; the whole duty of the 

 other must be to attend the canoe. It is a pleasant means of enjoy- 

 ing- a day's wild-fowl shooting-, and often hig-hly satisfactory to all 

 parties, particularly those who do not venture on the more " crack 

 performances " of punting", with its difficulties, dangers, and labori- 

 ous exertions. The canoe is an excellent school for a youth who 

 takes his first lessons in the famous sport of wild-fowl shooting-; 

 and if an experienced hand accompanies him, attends to the boat 

 properly, and knows how to manag-e it, the young- sportsman may 

 soon learn sufficient of the habits of wild-fowl, the method of ap- 

 proaching- them, and management of a boat, to enable him to try his 

 hand at punting. 



The boats vised at Poole and various other places on the south 

 coast, for this purpose, are upon a wrong* form of construction. In 

 the first place they have straight flat bottoms, consequently trou- 

 blesome to manage in windy weather, and very difficult to scull 



