350 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



security in case of sudden foul weather. Now all 

 these things imply considerable expense and outlay 

 to the gentleman shooter, to say nothing of a man 

 who endeavours to make a living thereby. It 

 should be remembered that what would be con- 

 sidered grand sport to the former would scarce 

 cover the expenses of the latter. The coast of 

 Ireland in winter could not be more treacherous or 

 unsheltered, especially in the west, and the facilities 

 of fowling, though the fowl be plentiful, are small, 

 unless thorough and expensive preparations be 

 undertaken. The anchorages for a man who shoots 

 from a sharp-bottomed vessel are few and open, 

 and not the best for fowling from. If this mode of 

 shooting be practised at all, it needs be done aright, 

 that is by means of a craft that will take the 

 ground safely, and can, therefore, be shoved up a 

 creek, or behind a point where no weather, however 

 wild, can do her harm. In these snug spots you can 

 often choose the time to creep about the channels 

 with punt and gun, and, though it be blowing a gale 

 in the open, feel quite safe and laugh at the thunder- 

 ing sea outside, now and then getting an excellent 

 shot at the crowding fowl driven into the creeks for 

 shelter. At such times all rivalry may be scorned ; 

 no punt could live along shore, or leave a vessel 

 afloat in the harbour. In the mighty Shannon, 

 with its hundreds of square miles of mud flats at 

 every tide,* I know of but one anchorage (and that 



* Seventy miles of tidal water, in some parts eight miles across, 

 but averaging from three to five. Besides this vast extent there is an 

 offshoot, called the " Fergus," about ten miles long, and at the 

 entrance eight miles wide, narrowing to five or six, and ending in the 

 river from which the estuary derives its name and formation, for 



