316 LAUNCHING 



when the tides " lifted " again, from the change of wind, 

 nothing would make them forsake the place. But now 

 the new system has put an end to this ; and sent most 

 of the birds to Poole Harbour, and other places where 

 the mud will not admit of launching. On this point 

 there is a difference of opinion by the two cleverest men 

 in the " profession." Buckle says that " launching is 

 the ruination of a coast." My man (Read) says that it 

 may be had recourse to, without injury to the ground, 

 provided you allow the birds to feed till they are full, 

 before you shoot at them. I am of Buckle's opinion, 

 which is now pretty well proved to be correct, by the 

 ruination of the Lymington country, for all night 

 shooting, except launching. 



I have, therefore, made a great sacrifice in wild sport, 

 by continuing to rendezvous at Keyhaven ; because, 

 on that part of the coast, when the water begins to flow 

 over the mud, at night, the birds, in general, leave the 

 harbour, and fly out to sea ; and even before a single 

 shooter appears afloat! But I became attached to the 

 quarter, from the inhabitants being such as we may 

 hold up for an example to those of other country places. 

 The neighbours are gentlemanly kind hospitable 

 people who know the world, and mind their own busi- 

 ness ; the tradesmen civil and obliging ; and such is 

 the honesty of the half-starved coasters, that I never 

 lost so much as a thowl or a mud-board, in the ten 

 years that I have frequented the place. (Such people 

 deserve a higher encomium than could be penned by a 

 poor scribbler on guns and shooting !) 



With regard to the day shooting in these parts, the 

 state of the Hampshire coast, last winter, was so truly 

 and ably described by " the Admiral" (Buckle) that, 



