THE CURLEW. 253 



Now and then upon the coast you may steal a 

 march upon a flock under shelter of a sea-wall ; but, 

 as a rule, they keep too far out from the shore to 

 be within reach of a gun from the wall. We have 

 found it a good plan to "lay up" at a spot in the 

 usual line of flight about an hour before high water. 

 As soon as the mud is covered, they leave the 

 harbour, calling loudly at intervals to one another 

 as they fly, and by imitating their call, while lying 

 concealed, we have repeatedly brought a Curlew 

 overhead and within shot. Another plan is to go 

 down the harbour in a gunning-punt, with an 

 ordinary double gun, at low water, and work along 

 the numerous channels which intersect the great 

 mud flats. In this way you can often get, unper- 

 ceivedly, within shot of a flock of birds, and secure 

 even the wary Curlew. 



On one occasion we were lying in a punt in " a 

 drain " (as the small channels in the Sussex harbours 

 are called) a little below a point where another 

 " drain " intersected it almost at right angles. In 

 the latter we had marked down two Curlews when 

 several hundred yards off, and observed that they 

 were feeding towards the junction of the two 



