198 REMIXISCENCES OP A SPORTSMAN. 



as much to windward as I dared go to wild fowl — having 

 previously covered myself and my man with clean white 

 linen, and a white night-cap, to appear the colour of the 

 snow — we floated down among the small pieces of ice 

 that were constantly drifting to leeward, and by these 

 means had a couple in the boat, and another that after- 

 wards dropped dead, just as the other punts were coming 

 up." Colonel Hawker further remarks, " always to let a 

 swan pass you, so as to shoot under his feathers, or you 

 may as well lire at a wool-pack." " Hundreds of com- 

 mon swans are mistaken for hoopers ; in hard weather 

 they are driven from gentlemen's seats, and still more 

 so from large swanneries, such as that at Abbotsbury, 

 in Dorsetshire. They then frequently repair to the 

 shore, and by congregating in flocks, and there getting 

 driven about and shot at, become quite as wild as the 

 real hoopers, from which they are difficult to be dis- 

 tinguished unless you hear them hoop. But when near 

 enough to inspect the head, you can be no longer in 

 doubt, as the naked skin above the bill, in the tame 

 swan is black, and in the wild swan bright yellow. Under 

 two years of age, the hoopers, like other cygnets, are not 

 white, but more or less of a dull fawn colour, and then the 

 yellow is much less brilliant, though still plain enough 

 to distinguish them from swans of the tame species." 



Mr. St. John is such a thorough, practical, and experi- 

 enced sportsman, and recounts his adventures in shoot- 

 ing in such an interesting and pleasing manner, that 

 I feel much pleasure in making an extract from his 

 work. 



" To-day, October 6th, we saw in the bay as many as 

 fifty or sixty wild swans, evidently just arrived. We 

 went home for swan-shot, Eley's cartridges, and other 



