Colonel peter Ibawfeer 145 



army of starlings, into which I blew off the great 

 double gun, with 30 ounces of small shot, just before 

 sunrise. What I killed it is impossible to say, but 

 from the appearance of the huge hole blown through 

 the phalanx of birds, my spectators guessed at least 

 500, though I could get but a mere share of those 

 which fell, as nearly all of them dropped in the reeds 

 or on quagmires. What I bagged at the time, however, 

 was 243 starlings at one shot. The feathers which the 

 wind blew over and towards us after the shot, I could 

 compare to nothing but a heavy fall of black snow. 



P.S. Dec. 27 tk. My man Charles came home from 

 Alresford and brought back word that the reeds were 

 cut, and the workmen found between 200 and 300 

 more starlings. If so, I was right in guessing that I 

 killed 500 at a shot." 



One more curious incident in Colonel Hawker's \vild- 

 fowling experiences let me quote before I leave them. 

 Under date February I7th, 1826, I find the following 

 in his Diary : 



" Reade ran out in the rain and ' lowered a parson ' 

 [shot a cormorant]. This bird made some fun for us. 

 He had thirty shot through his skin ; three flat fish 

 and an eel were taken out of him, and three shot 

 through the flat fish, also through undigested stuff like 

 meat. So that Reade had shot fish flesh and fowl 

 flying ; and in spite of this the nine-lived glutton led 

 us a chase for twenty minutes before he got sick enough 

 to be caught, although shot at, within 40 yards, by a 

 shoulder duck gun. He was disposed of as follows : 

 the skin to make a dandy collar for a coat ; the feathers 



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