BELGIUM 89 



Among record shots may be mentioned one of seventy-two duck 



and teal, a second of twenty-one wigeon, and a third of eighteen 



wild oeese, all by a professional fowler ot Antwerp, 



^ ' ^ t^ i Wild Fowl. 



by name Henri Saeys. Last year M. Ouinet, a well- 

 known sportsman, had the good luck to bag thirty-two duck at one 

 discharge of his punt gun ; and shots bringing down from se\^en 

 to fourteen birds are frequent. Passengers on the line between 

 Antwerp and Harwich have often an opportunity of following with 

 interest the manceuvres of a punt working up to a flock of duck 

 in the Scheer de Weerde, or near the banks of Saeffingen or 

 Ossemisse. The wild-fowler desirous of trying his luck in the 

 Scheldt should engage the services of a professional, who also 

 serves as pilot. (It is, by the way, necessary to provision the ex- 

 pedition at Antwerp, as the villages of Belgium and Holland are 

 not to be relied on for such purposes.) It must also be borne in 

 mind that the navigation of the Scheldt is, once out of the 

 ordinary channel, very difficult and calls for great care, particularly 

 on a falling tide. The punt accommodates two persons, and the 

 currents are formidable in certain spots and at certain stages of 

 the tide. 



As I said on an earlier page, a number of landowners object to 

 the publication of statistics. For those, however, who are curious 

 to know what we should call a good day's bag, the following authentic 

 returns may be of interest. 



I. On the estate of M. Hippolyte Meens on the heaths of Schooten: 

 1,100 head, including 15 hares, i woodcock, 139 pheasants; the rest 

 rabbits. 



