46 SEAFOWL SHOOTING SKETCHES. 



SEAFOWL SHOOTING ON THE KIBBLE (1887). 



What a day Monday, the i;th January, was! But it promised 

 fair enough at 6 a.m., being- quite calm and frosty. As we were 

 going to the station, however, we observed that the wind was 

 rising-. On arriving- at Lytham it was still worse, insomuch that 

 after consulting- the boatman, my friend (Mr. J. H. Threlfall) 

 deemed it inadvisable to venture out with his punt and big- g-un. 

 It was rather disappointing-, to be sure, but I cheerfully 

 acquiesced in his decision, as it was entirely in accordance with 

 my own opinion. 



Having- sat for a short time smoking- at the hotel, we shouldered 

 our i2-bores, and set out to tramp along- the shore. There were 

 plenty of purres, knots, and g-ulls flying about, and carefully stalk- 

 ing- along- the edg-e of the water I was rewarded by getting- a shot 

 into a small lot, dropping- two of them as they flew off. Picking- up 

 the purres, for such they were, we walked on. I took close 

 to the water, and my companion kept above. I had several shots, 

 but all misses, being unfortunately without any " 8's," which 

 would have been more suitable for small shore birds than the 

 " s's " and "4*5," which we used respectively. 



Now, I have a singular facility for getting into a mess, and 

 never go out in company but I manage to get into more dirt than 

 the others, at least my better half says so, and she must be right. 

 There was no exception on this occasion. I came to a patch 

 of mud which appeared to be nicely frozen over, and capable of 

 bearing any weight. No sooner on it than I went up to the knees. 

 I struggled on, and got through it, but with a substantial coating 

 of mud on the leggings. Of course, my companion enjoyed it 

 from the bank, and so did I when out of it. 



Going on, we came to a creek, which necessitated a consider- 

 able detour inland. I dropped a gull here, but as there were diffi- 

 culties in the way of retrieving we left it. Keeping on the high 

 road until past the dock, we again made for the shore. A strong 

 easterly wind, bitterly cold, was hard to encounter, but we toiled 

 on, our faces being of a cherry red, with icicles on our beards and 

 moustaches. A good many ducks and a few curlews passed over, 

 some of the latter not very much out of range. We marked a few 

 down, but they rose before we got up to them. Still we kept on, 

 noting schools of shore birds in the distance, until we came to 

 a rather large creek. Here, to our intense disgust, two lots of 

 ducks got up, five in each, and away they went. As my friend 



