200 WILD-FOWLING AFLOAT BY NIGHT 



the c flash ' of your punt or the glint of the gun- 

 barrel. 



Now and again the night may be too calm and 

 bright for punting. Under a full vertical moon the 

 surroundings are almost as clearly visible as by day, 

 and there is practically no shade from which you can 

 stalk birds. Many instances occur to me when on 

 such nights I have striven in vain to approach large 

 masses of widgeon on the open shallows, and if I did 

 ultimately push my punt in shot, it was usually due 

 to the fact that the fowl had changed their position to 

 my advantage, and alighted near some background 

 which favoured my operations. One very clear, still 

 night in particular, I remember ' setting ' to a vast 

 assembly of fowl, mainly composed of cock widgeon, 

 whose chief occupation seemed to be to watch and 

 wait for the first sign of the approach of my punt, on 

 observing which they at once flew up and went off to 

 other parts of their feeding-grounds. After ' setting ' 

 to them from four different directions without the 

 least prospect of success, luck suddenly turned, and I 

 eventually bagged over forty of them when they finally 

 alighted within about a hundred yards of a small patch 

 of rocks which afforded me excellent cover for stalking 

 them. 



A trained ear and an intimate acquaintance with 



