24 SHOOTING THE DUCK 



'To stalk in a punt' as bearing upon the fore 

 going paragraphs, I am quoting the well-known words 

 of the most practical exponent of wild- fowling who 

 has written in our own time ' a number of fowl, 

 whether geese or duck, on broad shelterless waters, 

 will often require the manceuvring of a general, the 

 patience, silence, and cunning of an experienced 

 deer-stalker, and the hardihood and pluck of a life- 

 boat crew, together with the cool, watchful eye of its 

 coxswain. The chances are always, save on the 

 rarest occasions, in favour of the birds and against 

 the shooter. . . . We have known men accustomed 

 to tiger-shooting, to elephant-slaying, to stalking of 

 every sort and kind, to salmon-fishing, and to all the 

 sports and most of the excitements of the world, 

 admit that during the few minutes previous to draw- 

 ing in shot of a vast assembly of wild-fowl, with a big 

 swivel gun cocked and ready before them as they lay 

 prone in the punt, their hearts seemed to beat louder 

 than ever they did before. At such a moment an 

 intense anxiety takes possession of the merest novice 

 lest the birds should fly off before he can obtain a 

 shot. . . . He sees geese, duck, widgeon, and teal, 

 and many other birds, as he never saw them before, 

 swimming, washing, playing, and calling within a 

 hundred yards of him. . . . Perhaps he gets within 



