30 SHOOTING THE DUCK 



sport, the punt being launched at fowl when they 

 are found. 



The fowling punt is a narrow, flat-bottomed craft, 

 painted to appear as inconspicuous in the water as 

 possible. With its light draught it can be used in 

 very shallow water. It is decked fore and aft and at 

 the sides. Round the cockpit runs low coaming, 

 parts of which can be folded down or removed, in 

 order to allow the puntsman's or gunner's arm or 

 arms free movement when using paddles, setting- 

 pole or scull. On the fore-deck lies the heavy swivel- 

 gun, breeched so that its recoil is taken up by the 

 punt. The gunner when setting up to fowl lies prone 

 in the cockpit, his head but just high enough to 

 enable him to see the birds. 



To deal fully with all that could be said on the 

 punt and the swivel-gun would entail writing at far 

 greater length than the scope of this volume allows. 

 Exhaustive descriptions are to be found in different 

 works on wild-fowling, and to these the reader is 

 referred. Individual fowlers as well as the fowlers of 

 certain localities are biassed in favour of certain de- 

 tails of the size and proportions of their punt and the 

 weight of their guns. Within rational limits, the make 

 and size of a punt are not of more than small im- 

 portance, but if these limits are exceeded in the one 



