342 



THE WILD-FOWLER. 



marked the astonishment expressed by them at the numbers of wild- 

 fowl they encountered. This occurs in books of travel through every 

 quarter of the globe. 



The voyag-ers engaged in the various expeditions in search of the 

 late Sir John Franklin, also speak of the vast flights of wild-fowl 

 they met with in the Arctic regions. 



An instance is recorded by a French writer, in which the whole 

 crew of a vessel would inevitably have perished with hunger had it 

 not been for the extraordinary abundance of wild-ducks.* 



It also appears that wild-fowl are very numerous in parts of 

 Russia ; and, according to the experiences of a sportsman, they are 

 killed there in great numbers. f 



Another author informs us that he found the rivers and lakes in 

 Lapland literally covered with wild-fowl.| 



In Hudson's Bay thousands are annually shot by the inhabitants 

 of the surrounding country : their flesh is highly-esteemed by the 

 people of those parts as a valuable article of food.§ 



On the coast of New Guinea they abound in every variety ; so 

 that at certain seasons of the year the whole country seems covered 

 with wild-fowl. II 



Adamson, in his voyage to Senegal, speaking of the morasses 

 between the villages of Nguiago and Torkrod, says they abound 

 with aquatic birds such as curlews, teal, and wild-ducks. The 

 latter species are sometimes so abundant in those parts, that they 

 cover a very large tract of ground or water. They appear in flights 

 comprising several thousands, and they are killed in great numbers ; 

 so that it is no uncommon circumstance to see thirty drop at one 

 shot, and often twice that number. Those lucky shots, however, 

 seem to be reserved to the negroes, some of whom are very good 

 mai'ksmen. They use none but large fowling pieces, called '^ bucca- 

 neers,^^ which are rather formidable pieces of artillery : they take 

 aim with these only upon level ground, and in large plains. The 

 natives are enabled to draw near to the birds unobservedly on the 



* " Promenade autour du Monde ;" by Jacques Amgo. 



t " Pray, Sir, let us go and shoot at LgofF," said Ermolai to me : " there we 

 shall shoot ducks by hundreds and thousands."— iJitssiaii Life in tlie Interior ; or, 

 the Experiences of a Sportsman; hy Ivan Tonrglienieff : a,d. 1855. 



X Regnard in his " Voycuge en Laponie." 



§ Vide Pennant's Arctic Zoology. Vol. ii. 



II Vide Bosnian's Description of the Coast of Guinea. 



