PUNT GUN SHOOTING. 413 



accumulation of small sounds, a single one of which 

 would by itself be inaudible, is justly referred to by 

 Sir R. Payne-Gallwey as a wonderful example of such 

 phenomena. Mr. Darwin however mentions a still 

 more remarkable instance of it in a vast flight of 

 butterflies, the beating of whose wings became in the 

 same way distinctly audible a short distance off, in 

 consequence of their immense, incalculable numbers. 

 Such flights of butterflies are still common in Ceylon 

 and other tropical lands, and sometimes continue almost 

 without intermission for weeks together. 



We do not propose to enter into any regular de- 

 scription of the science of wildfowl shooting with a 

 heavy punt gun (though we have ourselves done a 

 little of it in our time) ; the matter being too intricate 

 to be capable of being done justice to in a few 

 paragraphs. Two excellent works of modern date 

 upon the subject are those of Sir R. Payne-Gallwey 

 (already referred to), and "Modern Wildfowling, " by 

 Wildfowler. * The older works of Mr. H. C. Folkard f 

 and Colonel Hawker are still standard authorities 

 on the same subject. The latter especially may be 

 justly regarded as the father of practical wildfowling 

 with a punt gun : no man ever having had larger or 

 more varied experience with wildfowl of all kinds 

 than the celebrated Colonel Peter Hawker: though of 

 course much of what he says on the subject of guns 

 is now completely out of date. 



* Modern Wild-fowling Punts and Punt Gtins, by " Wildfowler "" 

 of The Field, published at The Field Office, London 1880. 



j- The Wildfowler, by H. C. Folkard, (On " Punt Guns and Decoys,") 

 London 1875. 



Instriictions to Sportsmen, by Lt.-Col. Peter Hawker, edited by 

 his son, London 1859 (originally published 1826). 



