306 WILDFOWL SHOOTING. 



man thinks his cracked shooting is to do every thing, 

 and will not go low enough, for fear of dirtying his 

 knees ; while the rustic, not minding dirt, or any thing 

 else, pulls off his hat, crawls to the fowl, and is gene- 

 rally as sure of getting, as the other is of not getting, a 

 good shot. 



The average of shooting, on the coast, is now far 

 inferior to that in many private rivers and ponds, by 

 reason, that, where the wildfowl contribute to the winter 

 subsistence of the fishermen, they are for ever followed, 

 and not only by them, but every vagrant, who can raise 

 &few shillings to purchase an old musket ; so that, on 

 their appearing in numbers, there is generally assembled 

 a levy en masse, who, by indiscriminately firing at all 

 distances, make them so difficult of access, that, although 

 thousands may be seen, few will fly or let you come 

 within reach. 



Indeed, the sport is sometimes so completely ruined, 

 that I have heard the poor men, who earn their liveli- 

 hood by it, express a most earnest wish, that some kind 

 of licence was required, which they could pay for ten- 

 fold by the number of shots that are now spoiled by 

 the idle, drunken, mischievous rabble, that frequent 

 the alehouses about Christmas, for the nominal purpose 

 of wildfowl shooting. These fellows would, by this 

 means, be deterred from infesting the shore, and the 

 poor fowlers would be better paid for their hard labour : 

 add to which, this would prevent the depredations that 

 are not unfrequently committed by these armed vaga- 

 bonds. As it is, however, the lords of manors may 

 forbid their carrying guns, or otherwise trespassing, 

 in parts where the tide does not flow, such as the waste 

 land, &c. 



