4 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



and his mournful whistle ; the pewit, and the note of 

 the stone curlew or thickknee called in the marshes 

 the king of the curlews. Placing the fingers in the 

 mouth and whistling like the boys do in the street 

 gives one of the bird's cries. I had plenty of room 

 to move about, and no one interfered with me or the 

 birds. It was not necessary. The Bird Preservation 

 Act was not thought about at that time. The 

 plover's eggs were left for the bird to hatch, and if 

 the young were seen they might be picked up just 

 to look at and be let go again. Bird and egg col- 

 lectors had not reached our neighbourhood. 



The miles of marshland teemed with bird-life. 

 When the gun was used it was for the wild-fowl 

 proper geese, duck, widgeon, teal ; but the waders 

 that gave life to the dreary-looking pools were little 

 troubled, for powder and shot with the fishermen 

 meant money. When they fired at a bird they shot 

 at something that would do for dinner. Fish may 

 give you intellectual power, so some learned men 

 say ; I know for a fact overmuch fish-diet does not 

 put much power into the body, and continued for 

 any time it is a delusion. 



The wild lands reclaimed in times past, foot by 

 foot, here from the sea would be again under water 

 but for the sea-wall which runs mile after mile, and 



