WILD-FOWLING AFLOAT BY NIGHT 205 



especially in cold weather, when they huddle and 

 crowd together, eagerly devouring the last mouthful 

 of weed before the tide overwhelms their feeding- 

 grounds. Great caution is necessary, however, when 

 ' setting ' in to birds on a rising tide, and it is most 

 essential, before an approach is attempted, that it 

 should be ascertained whether there is sufficient 

 water to float the punt up in shot without the risk of 

 sticking fast on some intervening hummocks of mud 

 in full view of them. A mistake in this respect may 

 result in a night's labour spent in vain, for the birds 

 will certainly notice any effort to push the punt over 

 the obstruction, and when once their attention is 

 attracted by any struggling movements there remains 

 small hope of a shot. A rising tide, birds usually 

 thickly massed on the higher muds, and plenty of 

 time to collect the spoil without fear of going aground 

 and seeing the victims escape, are all factors which 

 make for good sport ; and, yet, in some of our bays 

 and estuaries, where fowl are being continually 

 harassed, it is sometimes most difficult to get a shot 

 on this tide. In these places birds know the danger 

 so well that, long before the tide is sufficiently high 

 to allow a punt near them, they leave their feeding- 

 grounds for the open water. 



During white frosts, and particularly in a dead 



