284 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



The sneak-boat may be made on the same lines as above 

 for still water, and as small as ii ft. long, decked over with 

 quarter-inch-thick deck, the latter merely to carry a screen of 

 grasses, reeds, or twigs to conceal the gunner. The large 

 gondola can be rowed with two pairs of oars, and poled or 

 sculled by means of a crutch fixed on the side near the stern, 

 in the same manner as a punt. 



We might refer to the old-fashioned and almost out-of-date 

 mud-boats or mud-punts ; but to do so would entail space 

 beyond the limits of our subject. It is beyond our scope to state 

 further than that such boats are in use even up to the present 

 day (though not, as a rule, with much success, as birds nowa- 

 days seem to be too wary to be taken with them), and that 

 they are simply flat boards with some slight side protection, 

 and are "slid" over the mud to birds, by their occupants 

 lying flat on the chest. 



