52 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



against which they strike their enormous feet and wings most 

 furiously, great advantage is gained in distance. They should 

 be allowed on all occasions to turn the side, for a breast shot 

 rarely succeeds in entei'ing. 



" When two feeding coves are separated by a single point, by 

 disturbing the Swans on either occasionally, they will pass and 

 repass very closely to the projection of land, and usually taking 

 as they do the straight line, each gunner, to prevent disputes, 

 indicates the bird he will shoot at. 



" In winter, boats covered with pieces of ice, the sportsmen 

 being dressed in white, are paddled or allowed to float during 

 the night into the midst of a flock, and they have oftentimes 

 been killed by being knocked on the head and neck by a pole. 

 There is, however, much danger in this mode, as others may be 

 engaged in like manner, and shooting at a short distance, the 

 persons might not be readily distinguished from the Swans. 

 These birds seem well aware of the range of a gun, and I have 

 followed them in a skiff" for miles, driving a body of several 

 hundreds before me, without the possibility of getting quite 

 within shooting distance. 



" Wlien more than one person is shooting, it is usual for each 

 to select a particular Swan, and if there be not enough for all, 

 two will take a particularly good bird, and, if it be killed, will 

 decide its possession afterward, by some play of chance. Few 

 are willing to take the first bird, even though their position of 

 last in the direction of flight would compel them according to 

 usage to do so, not only from the difficulty and uselessness of 

 killing the old ones, but because there is much less chance of a 

 sti'ay shot from a neighbor's gun assisting in the destruction. 



" In the autumn of 1829, the writer, with another person was 

 on Abbey Island, where seven Swans were approaching the 

 point in one line, and three others at a short distance behind 

 them. The small group appeared exceedingly anxious to pass 

 the larger, and as they doubled the point at about sixty yards' 

 distance, the three formed with the second bird of the larger 

 flock a square of less than three feet. At this moment both 



