128 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



stem sticking up ; then when almost trodden on, up 

 they would get and flap heavily away ; and then 

 they got it, as Baulk said. 



One that was wounded drew itself up by some 

 dead flags, and looked so like them that the shooter 

 touched it before he knew what it was. Crammed 

 as all marsh-men are with the lore and traditions of 

 generations, it is not to be wondered at that at times 

 they should be very much influenced by their sur- 

 roundings. In their way they were influenced quite 

 as much by what they saw and pondered on as are 

 the Scottish Highlanders, and that is saying a great 

 deal ; it is, however, perfectly true. If I were to 

 stand on the flats and hear what I have heard there 

 at night, my blood would tingle again as much now 

 as it did then ; there is something electrical to a 

 born son of the marshes in that cry and clang of 

 fowl at night. 



On the Essex side of the water it was, as they 

 said, all fowl ; one thing is certain, enormous 

 quantities were captured there ; and more Bitterns 

 were found there ; for, bad as some of our bogs 

 were, they were worse on that side of the water. 

 Our people knew nothing about the fowlers on the 

 other side; they were " furriners " to us, although 

 only a short distance over the water. 



In spite of all inborn ideas, and their own peculiar 

 temperament, they never funked at anything, and 

 they never moved without their guns day or night ; 

 these were always loaded, because they did not 

 know what they might fall in with above or below. 



