16 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



from his standing-place. Taking the worsted ball 

 on his boy's cap for the head of a bird, in the dim 

 uncertain light, the man fired and killed him. And 

 there, where we stood and listened to the cry of the 

 air-hounds, above all the cry and clang of wild fowl, 

 the father's terrible cry of agony rang out, ' My son, 

 oh my son ! ' 



The next morning found me in my old haunts 

 again. A hard blue sky was overhead, without 

 a vestige of cloud ; the wind blowing bitter keen 

 from the east, and the marshes covered with frozen 

 snow, so deep in many places that few travellers 

 would dare venture out there ; but I wanted birds 

 as specimens, and the long-continued cold had made 

 them tame. 



The tide is running up, and the birds are on 

 flight from place to place. There are very treacherous 

 traps for the unwary in the Saltings that meadow- 

 like space left between the salt water and the sea 

 wall. To look at it you would think it easy travel- 

 ling ; but the thick growth of the sea-blite and coarse 

 grass and rush conceals the runs and dykes made by 

 the rush of the tide, some of which lead to the 

 sluice-gates in the sea wall. The force of the tide 

 opens these in flowing up, and fills all the dykes ; 

 when the ebb takes place the gates close again. 



