CHAPTER LII. 



WILD-FOWL SHOOTING ON THE COAST BY DAYLIGHT. 



*****#(« The fowling-piece 



Was slioulcler'd, and the blood-stain'd game-pouch slung 



On this side, and the gleaming flask on that : 



In sooth, we were a most accx)rdaut pair ; 



And thus accoutred, to the lone sea- shore 



In fond and fierce precipitance we flew." 



The Fowler : By Delta. 



Wild-fowl shooting as practised ashore is a general and varied 

 diversion, with some of the branches of which, most men are more or 

 less familiar ; but it is a distinct and totally different pursuit to 

 that of wild-fowl shooting at midnight or in boats. The " shore- 

 gunner ' ' has a variety of chances and advantages over the others, of 

 obtaining, by less cimning and less laborious means, shots from 

 the coast at wild-fowl ; but the amount of success is generally very 

 far inferior to those of the punter and midnight sportsman. The 

 shore-gunner will frequently find, in his excursions along the coast, 

 that success depends mainly on his skill in stalking, and obtaining a 

 good ambuscade ; for this purpose he must be prepared to incur 

 much disagreeable exposure, to act promptly, boldly, and in defiance 

 of trifling obstacles and obstructions. 



I have on many occasions heard modern sportsmen, whose pursuits 

 have been confined exclusively to inland sport say, they would give 

 almost anything for a day's wild-fowl shooting, so transcendently 

 superior is the sport acknowledged to be, over the best partridge- 

 shooting in the country. 



There is not a branch of the sport of wild-fowl shooting but is 

 fraught with occasional trying exposure to the severity of the 

 weather ; and the man who exposes himself most, and energetically 

 pursues the diversion, is not only the least liable to suffer constitu- 

 tionally, but is invariably the most successful. 



