SHOOTING ON THE COAST BY DAYLIGHT. 273 



Inexperienced shots are apt to mistake distances and fire out of 

 range from liigli cliffs, when viewing- birds immediately beneatli 

 them : distance is so deceptive, that I have known old sportsmen 

 from the flat countries make gross errors in estimating the range 

 of their shot-barrels, when pursuing the diversion from clifts and ele- 

 vated positions on the seacoast and margins of lakes. 



The spoi'tsman should descend in a manner unobserved, and en- 

 deavour to find an ambuscade below, from which he can make more 

 certain of his shot. He will sometimes be astonished to find, on descend- 

 ing from a lofty prominence, that on his arrival at the bottom, the 

 birds are wholly out of range ; though when viewed from the exalted 

 position they appeared within easy access of shot : such are the de- 

 ceptions of space to the human eye. 



There is one system of pursuing this sport which is by no means 

 an enviable one, though often highly successful : it is by digging 

 small deep pits or holes in the beach; or by sinking empty hogsheads, 

 tubs, or boxes, by the margin of waters or in flat marshes frequented 

 by wildfowl, where, otherwise, no shelter could be had. The top 

 and edges of these hiding places are carefully concealed with tufts 

 of grass ; and from such unpleasant positions the wild-fowl shooter is 

 enabled to take deliberate aim, as he watches unobservedly, the ap- 

 proach of the birds ; he can also fi*equently obtain a shot at birds on 

 the wing, his position in the pit being so pecixliar that he may, on the 

 most open coast, screen himself from observation, and watch all the 

 movements of the unsuspecting fowl. 



This artifice is frequently resorted to for the purposes of flight- 

 shooting, as stated in the chapter imder that head {vide post, chapter 

 liii.) ; it is also used on the banks of the Rhine with good success : 

 the sportsman having descended into the ])it, draws a hiu'dle of brush- 

 wood over his head* to complete his concealment j then, by merely 

 raising the hurdle a few inches at one end and resting it upon a stone, 

 he is enabled to observe the approach and position of such fowl as 

 venture within range of his gun, and to despatch them with unerring 

 certainty. 



It is amusing to observe how very severe Colonel Hawker is upon 

 the poorer class of shore -gunners — or such as were not, in his eyes, legi- 

 timate sportsmen ; calling them " armed vagabonds " and " vagrants." 

 He even goes so far as to say the sport is spoilt by " the idle, 



* " Rambles in Germany, France, Italy, and Russia in Search of Sport,'' by the 

 Hon. F. St. John : a.d. 1853. 



N N 



