50 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



more " sharp and pigeon-like " than a " HernsherV 

 He flung it into the coalhouse, where it was found 

 in the morning by his sister, who shovelled it up 

 with the coals. It was much ruffled, and afterwards 

 sold for two shillings to Watson, a game dealer, 

 who recognised it as a fine Bittern. 



The bagging of any wildfowl may be looked upon 

 as a matter of accident, for, unlike a sportsman count- 

 ing with some degree of certainty his game before 

 shooting it in a partridge preserve, the shore gunner 

 trusts entirely to chance for what may fall in his 

 way. Even here certain calculations are possible, 

 dependent on the wind and other like circumstances ; 

 but it is notorious that all our rarest visitors have 

 been met with when altogether undreamt of. Some 

 years ago a young gunner let fly at what he thought 

 to be a Lark, finding afterwards the strange-looking 

 specimen in his hand to be the first recognised 

 locally shot example of the Shore-Lark. In recent 

 years a gunner on Breydon, coming home empty- 

 handed, found his cartridge had jammed. Rather 

 than take the gun ashore loaded, he thought he 

 would shoot at the first Gull that went by, in the 

 hope that the cartridge might possibly explode 

 which it did. Subsequently the bird, which had 



