THE OLD SPORT 143 



the solemnity of night is transformed into the keen 

 activity of a fusilade of destruction. The shore 

 waders that have been feeding and fattening under 

 the protection of the law are exposed to the yearly 

 attack. 



Two great Herons aroused by the unusual sights 

 and sounds rise with inquisitive croak and fly low 

 from the outer shore toward the rush-protected 

 water. Flashes and reports along their course seem 

 to confuse them, and the usual grace of their steady 

 strokes gives place to momentary awkward turnings 

 as they pass close from the invisible to the invisible. 

 The first hurried flight of the hunted is seen reflected 

 in a long, shallow lagoon imprisoned by a stretch of 

 sandy beach. The birds are invisible against the 

 background of Willows and Rushes, but in the 

 natural mirror of the Lagoon the light from the moon- 

 lit clouds reflects their passing forms. They are 

 Ring-necks and small Sandpipers, bunched close with 

 quivering wings, and their mirrored forms seem to 

 shudder rather than swerve at a startlingly near 

 report. The fusilade continues wherever the uncertain 

 light reveals the location of the restless and startled 

 waders. It grows more noisily aggressive as the 

 advancing sunlight blots out the Dog Star and the 

 faint crescent. Flashes are no longer visible, but the 

 noise increases as the disturbed and hunted flocks 

 scurry along the shore in a helpless, eager search for 



