WU.D-DUCK SHOOTING. 



243 



" twig-g-ed" my movements while in the act of stooping my head, to 

 avoid observation ; and, on a signal from the sentry, a clond of birds 

 instantly rose in the air, the whole body of which were, the instant 

 before, feeding within range of my gun. 



I was so vexed at the moment, and unprepared for the event, as to 

 forget that I might have made a splendid flying shot ; and when I 

 found a double chance gone, I rose to my knees in the punt, in still 

 greater disappointment. The reader may judge of my unbounded 

 regret, when another flight immediately rose within a hundred yards' 

 range of my gun. This latter team had evidently not discovered the 

 cause of alarm, and would probably have remained on the marshes, 

 thus enabling me to have satisfactorily appeased my first dis- 

 appointment ; but, as I naturally supposed all had left the bay, I 

 unsuspectingly disturbed them by rising up in the punt : thus three 

 excellent successive chances were in a few moments entirely thrown 

 away, partly by indiscretion, and partly by a too-eager desire to 

 grasp the horn of plenty.* 



Flapper Shooting. 



A " flapper" is a young wild-duck, in a state of immaturity, 

 partly fledged, and consequently unable to soar in the air or to fly 

 any great distance. 



It is very unsportsmanlike to go in quest of flappers ; and no wild- 

 fowl shooter, with any pretensions to a sportsman, will advocate the 

 sport. It is a highly undignified proceeding to pursue them, young 

 and helpless as they are, and aff"ording no very choice relish to the 

 epicure when bagged ; for whilst not full-favoured, they are not full- 

 flavoured. 



The pursuit is generally carried forward in a small boat, of easy 

 draught of water, which one man rows amongst rushes, reeds, and 

 sedges, by the river-side, or wherever else they may grow. The 

 " sportsman" (if such he may be called) sits either at the prow or 

 stern of the boat, it being immaterial which. The flappers are dis- 



* Having in this work related some of my most successful adventures, I have 

 thought it only fair to give a specimen of the unsuccessful ; and, indeed, I am not sure 

 that the young sportsman may not derive as much instruction from one as the other. 

 For my oivn part, experience teaches me that sometimes more may be learned from 

 ill success than from the reverse. 



