236 



THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



;^5 and £10; but we had an offer once, when ill-luck had 

 continually attended one of these poor fellows, of a punt, with 

 gun, just as they floated, for 30s. 



In conclusion, we leave further expenses for the intending 

 fowler himself to think over before taking up the sport, and 

 at the same time hope that our rough notes may be found 

 useful. We should all bear in mind that true sport is pleasant 

 to a sportsman, and a sportsman is a man who sets out for 

 sport, and not with the vulgar notion of "what there is to 

 get." Big bags do not always count alone as sport, for 

 even on the blankest days there is much to interest and 

 please the thorough man, who chooses to be afloat on the 

 desolate wilds which wildfowl love so much to haunt. Be 

 the bag ever so large, if it has not been made in a sports- 

 manlike manner, there cannot have been any sport. Non- 

 sport is painful to a real sportsman, equally so as the reverse 

 applies. We said "thorough man." Here we might further 

 add to this (though, maybe, out of place) that unless a man 

 is thoroughly sound physically, it is not wise for him to go 

 punting. It tests the physique of the strongest constitutions, 

 though we do not say it harms them. We feel inclined to 

 state that it tends further to strengthen them, provided care 

 is taken with regard to clothing, etc., which is the main point 

 in warding off rheumatism either at the time, or in years to 

 come. Although men who have not enjoyed the best of 

 health have pursued wildfowling for years without any disastrous 

 results, we advise those who do not honestly feel equal to the 

 job to leave such hard and rough tasks as punting to others, 

 for a man who is not of the strongest or soundest make is apt 

 at any moment to collapse under the strain that this sport may 

 give rise to. We may rather err when we say strong. A man 

 need not be a Hercules before he can go wildfowling — far from 

 it; yet, advisedly, he should be "sound" in every way — a 

 good chest, and all other organs up to standard, and of fair 



