RETRIEVING THE CRIPPLES. 353 



aground, and hard shoving will be requisite to get 

 afloat, be amply repaid. After the shot, if in a 

 double, leave man and punt to get into deeper water 

 as best they can, picking up the spoil yourself mean- 

 while. When this is done, and there is time to look 

 round, you may find yourself on a broad waste of 

 ooze, alone, the punt cruising about in the distance. 

 You should manage to retrieve all the cripples, as 

 in shallow water, with an ebb, they find it harder to 

 dive, and escape every moment, and any that reach 

 the channels will meet punt and man on the look- 

 out for them. 



If in a single punt, after firing she must first be 

 pushed out and anchored in deeper water, the shooter 

 returning to see that she swims, every now and 

 then, and picking up the result of the shot as best 

 he can. If a very good shot has been made, and 

 he does not wish to run the risk of losing birds, 

 the punt needs be left aground ; he must then either 

 chance a long toilsome shove to the water, or spend 

 some hours, according to the time of tide, in solitary 

 meditation on the loneliness of the scene, or consoled 

 by his thoughts and tobacco. 



On their last legs, the birds are heavy after feed- 

 ing, are reluctant to leave, and crowd on the last 

 piece of available bank, till actually lifted off their 

 legs by the encroaching tide.* When floated, they 

 still hover over the spot till the water is too deep 

 for them to reach the mud with their bills. They 

 then open out, and the shot, though no longer first- 

 rate, is yet, perhaps, a fair one. 



On seeing fowl in this position, and not yet 



* Tliis is the time of all others to seek or wait for a shot. 



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