308 FRANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



until the winter sets in * Multitudes of Wild-ducks do come 

 down from the moors, during harvest, to feed upon the corn- 

 fields on the banks of some of the larger lochs, and, when the 

 stubble becomes bare, return to the moor-lochs until these are 

 fi-ozen over, which again drives them back. This is the only 

 foundation for the vulgar error. A day or two is generally 

 sufficient to freeze over these little lochs, and their occupants 

 then come down to the larger ones, the greater parts of which 

 remain open long after the storm has set in. Now is the time 

 for the wild-fowl shooter : if the ground is covered with snow, 

 so much the better. The fowl are then in groups close to the 

 shore, pinched with cold, and hunger, seeking shelter and a 

 scanty morsel. If at the same time it is windy, with drifts of 

 snow, no weather can be more propitious for Ducks, Widgeon, 

 Teal, and all wild-fowl that feed at the margin. When the 

 snow is falling thick and fast, a capital sitting shot may some- 

 times be obtained, though the ground be so bare as to offer no 

 concealment. In most cases, however, it is best not to take the 

 cover off your gun till the shower moderates a little, as snow is 

 80 apt to penetrate, and. make it miss fii'e. 



" If the weather be open, the higher the wind the better, as 

 it drives to the shore whatever fowl are upon the loch, although 

 until the frost sets in they will be comparatively few. 



" The most auspicious weather for divers is one of those frosty 

 days, accompanied by mist, when the loch is perfectly calm, and 

 looks like a mirror dimmed by one's breath. You may then 

 hear their plash in the water — sometimes even before they can 

 be seen — and, if care is taken to make no rustliiig among the 

 bushes, when they are above the water, you have every pros- 



* These obsen'ations on the seasons of these birds in Great Britain, might, 

 perhaps, have been omitted ; but I consider the whole of this extract so very 

 able and correct, that, taking into consideration the vast extent ami variety of 

 latitude covered by the shooting grounds of America, in some of which the cli- 

 mate closely resembles that of England, I have not been able to prevail on my- 

 self to omit it ; as I doubt not there are places at which the cap will be found 

 to fit, and the hints of consequence to be useful. 



