346 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



Another well-known objection is, " that the 

 fowler, with his swivel-gun, wounds many birds 

 that afterwards suffer a lingering death." Bun- 

 glers alone wound fowl they cannot get, by 

 firing long and random shots. Some, out of a 

 large number, must always be disabled without 

 being killed outright ; but the man who knows his 

 work would recover ninety out of every hundred 

 brought down. If four or five do now and then 

 find their way ashore, an uncommon sharp look-out 

 is there kept. The mere echo of a heavy shot will 

 bring men and dogs seaward from all sides. 



Wildfowl will congregate, you cannot help that ; 

 it \syour fortune, and their misfortune. Who would 

 spare a large "company" to shoot at a small one 

 for the sake of humanity ? Pshaw ! 



