156 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



depart before, the marshes are comparatively 

 silent and deserted; the reeds wither and are 

 beaten down by the equinoctial gales, and as the 

 season advances, the flats assume their old bleak 

 and desolate aspect, relieved only by the appear- 

 ance of the crow and the wild duck, or by that 

 of some solitary snipe shooter slowly traversing 

 the drifts with his dog. 



Before concluding this article, we would 

 mention that rail have been and are still hunted 

 on foot, on the flood tide. We remember re- 

 peatedly to have seen our old acquaintance, 

 Major Deadshot, wading up to his middle on 

 the Broad Marsh, with his dogs, Bob and Dash, 

 swimming around him, and upon more occa- 

 sions than one, on a scant tide, he has been 

 known to bring in more birds than "the best 

 boat." We are informed that he has killed his 

 usual quantum of rail in this way during the 

 past season, and excepting that his famous dogs 

 have gone the way of all flesh, he is still the 

 same veritable Major Deadshot, upon whom we 

 looked with undisguised reverence, when shoot- 

 ing had an undefined and mysterious fascina- 

 tion for us, in the happy days of our boyhood. 



