SHOOTING THE DUCK AT SEA 27 



continuous sport at the command of the dry-land 

 gunner. The sunny side has been too vividly im- 

 pressed upon them : the contrast of the real with the 

 ideal has proved too great. 



That man who is weak enough to imagine that 

 there is any short cut to success in shooting wild- 

 fowl afloat, and acts upon his belief, is fore-doomed 

 to certain disappointment. Not all the advice ever 

 written will give him the knowledge, the skill, and 

 the powers of observation and calculation which 

 are requisite before he can make himself a wild- 

 fowler of even moderate calibre. These things are 

 only to be learned in the schools of failure and 

 practical experience. However good an inland 

 sportsman a man may be, he must start from the 

 beginning when he takes to the water. He must 

 learn the habits and peculiarities of the different 

 fowl ; he must learn how to manage his punt from 

 the prone position, an art in itself; he must learn to 

 judge distance on water, so different a thing from 

 judging distance on land ; he must tell what is the 

 most favourable moment for setting up to the birds ; 

 he must learn when to fire and how to fire. And 

 after he has learned all this and more, and, with 

 several seasons' experience behind him, is entitled 

 to rank as on old hand, he will still find that 



