CHAPTER XLIV. 



WILD-DUCK SHOOTING 



*' Down close I the wild-ducks come, and darting down. 

 Throw up on every side the troubled wave : 

 Then gaily swim around with idle play. 

 With breath restraiu'd, and palpitating heart, 



I view their movements ." 



Fowling, a Poem, Book v. 



The wild duck (Anas hoschasj is more eag'erlj pursued than anj 

 other species of wikl-fowl : the decoyer, the punter, the shore-g'unner^ 

 and the sailor-sportsrnan, one and all, are its constant persecutors. It 

 is not, therefore, to be wondered at that wild-ducks, as well as others 

 of the species wild-fowl, are the most timid birds of the feathered 

 ci'eation : their customary resorts by daylig'ht being- on the loneliest 

 open waters, they are less familiar with the human form than land 

 birds, and consequently more susceptible to alarm and more awake 

 to suspicion. 



Wild-duck shooting- requires the strictest silence, watchfidness, and 

 precaution, tog-ether with the services of a dog specially trained to 

 the pursuit.* 



The wild-duck being* common throug-hout every coi;ntry in the 

 universe, all sportsmen are more or less acquainted with its habits, 

 and every one with its flavour as a table luxury, though it can- 

 not now be purchased at so cheap a rate as in centuries past, when 

 a g'ood mallard might be had for twopence.f 



The flesh of the wild-duck is, indisputably, far superior to that of 



* " This particular kind of sport requires more silence and prudent precaution than 

 any other ; of which the dog should, by unremitting perseverance, be made as per- 

 fectly sensible as his master." — The S]oortsman''s Cabinet, or Delineations of Dugs ; 

 hy " A Veteran Sportsman." 2 vols., quarto. 1803. 



t " Item : It is thought good that maJlardes be boght onely for my Lordes own 

 mees, so they be good, and boght for ijd. a pece." — Northitm. Ho. H, Booli, temp. 

 Ben. VIII. 



