RAlt SHOOTING. 135 



system, having been previously afflicted with 

 a species of disorder, which the learned faculty 

 call colica pictonum, produced by indulging in 

 morbid appetite for the pellets of shot, which 

 are so thickly strewn on the marshes. This, 

 the pusher thought, so debilitated their consti- 

 tutions, that the mere report of villainous salt- 

 petre, so annoying to Hotspur's human popin- 

 jay, was too much for them. 



"The wital forces," said he, " couldn't stand 

 it no how; hence they eyther tuk fits straight, 

 or else straightened out in arnest." 



That shot are occasionally found in the diges- 

 tive organs of water-fowl, is a fact known to 

 many sportsmen ; it is true, also, that paralysis 

 sometimes supercedes lead colic; these two 

 facts being undisputed, we leave old E.'s theory 

 to the attention of the curious without further 

 comment. There is really nothing extraordi- 

 nary in the idea, that intense apprehension 

 should produce insensibility and even death, in 

 a creature of such delicate organization as a rail, 

 and we are strongly inclined to think that Mr. 

 Orde for whom we have great respect as the 

 friend and companion of WiiSon mistook this 

 feeling in the cases which he adduced, for that 

 of rage. We have also full faith in the state- 



