408 WILDFOWL ON THE DUTCH COASTS. 



is full of meaning, and is instantly obeyed by all who 

 hear it." * 



These very large flocks of wildfowl are however 

 unfortunately becoming rare upon our coasts, in con- 

 sequence of the constant persecution of the birds by 

 shore gunners, who are continually popping at them, 

 all day, and sometimes all night too ; stress of weather 

 however, every now and again still brings in vast 

 numbers of wildfowl of all kinds from abroad, upon 

 the occurrence of exceptionally severe winters. The 

 prodigious numbers seen by the old gunners upon 

 the British coasts in bygone days are nevertheless 

 greatly diminished, if we are to trust the accounts 

 given in the ancient records, which show that our 

 harbours and river estuaries were then literally swarm- 

 ing with their assembled legions. 



It seems probable that these countless myriads of 

 birds were in many instances mostly migratory flights, 

 driven down from the northern regions by the severity 

 of the winter cold; and if this be so, it is not un- 

 likely that in these modern days they may have 

 modified their flight lines; and descend along the 

 Danish and Dutch coasts, instead of, as formerly, 

 coming to the British Islands. It does not follow, as 

 we venture to believe, that the race of wildfowl is 

 becoming extinguished by human agency, as people 

 are often so prone to imagine. When we reflect that the 

 great breeding grounds for the fowl are in the path- 

 less wilds of the Arctic regions, it seems hard to con- 

 ceive that any amount of desultory popping* by unskilled 

 gangs of idle rustics could permanently affect their 

 numbers very greatly, during their occasional visits 



* The Wildfowler, by H. C. Folkard, 1875, p. 109. 



