WILD-FOWLING AFLOAT BY NIGHT 217 



on a rising tide, widgeon and ducks will frequently 

 assemble in large numbers over the fast covering 

 flats, and offer an excellent opportunity for making 

 a heavy shot. By approaching them with the dark 

 shades of night astern of you, they will be clearly 

 outlined under the eastern light, whilst your punt, 

 coming towards them from these shades of night, will 

 be hardly visible in the gloom. After a hearty meal 

 overnight, however, widgeon and ducks will on calm 

 mornings often fly from the mudbanks at the first 

 glint of day, in order to wash and plume themselves 

 in the deep water prior to the morning flight to their 

 diurnal resorts. Such a contingency is always present, 

 and may defeat your expectations of a shot unless 

 you can get on terms with them before they have 

 become dispersed in small groups here, there, and 

 everywhere. This has been my experience on so 

 many occasions in one locality where I used to shoot 

 that I speak with some feeling on the point. 



Several of the most notable shots at fowl in home 

 waters have been obtained at daybreak, and as re- 

 cently as January 1901, Sir R. Payne-Gall wey, Bart., 

 tells me that he succeeded in bagging seventy widgeon 

 at one shot on the west coast of England. This is 

 probably a record for one gun in England or Wales, 

 whilst, in Ireland or Scotland, it is many years since 



