BIRD NOTES 95 



and by keeping a wake open near his houseboat, 

 he used to have the fowl " drop in, right past the 

 punt gun." He and others, although prices were 

 low, used to earn 2 and 4< a week in hard 

 weather. 



We get more wild ducks in Norfolk waters when 

 the Baltic becomes frozen over ; when it is other- 

 wise, shipmasters tell us, parts of that sea are 

 " black with birds." 



On being asked what was the greatest shot he 

 ever made, an ancient Breydoner drily remarked 

 that he once " laid " at quite a thousand " Smee " 

 and other ducks, and pulled the trigger, when 

 the gun missed fire ! 



In the 'fifties there followed the profession of wild- 

 fowler a man who was, in his day, a mighty hunter. 

 He was also a deep drinker, and not infrequently, 

 after becoming stupidly intoxicated, would tumble 

 into his punt, mechanically paddle upstream, and 

 after making fast his craft to an oar stuck in the 

 mud, fall asleep, to wake up sober in the morning. 

 On one occasion he awoke to find himself smothered 

 with snow, with ice formed around him, save in a 

 "wake" in the "drain" a bit ahead of him. As 

 he rubbed his eyes into wakefulness he heard the 



