264 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



In such sanctuaries rest the divers. This com- 

 prehensive term includes Mergansers, Grebes, and 

 the divers proper. As sprats are found here in enor- 

 mous quantities, while smelts, shrimps, and flat-fish 

 also abound, the class of birds feeding solely on fish, 

 in some shape or other, congregate here, where their 

 food can be procured in great quantities and in the 

 easiest manner. When fowl have to work hard for 

 their food they become thin and tough. No one, 

 however, unless he were very unsophisticated, would 

 venture to try culinary experiments on a diver. 



Hosts of waders frequent these flats, slubs, and 

 sands ; clouds, trips, and mobs of birds, all very 

 wide-awake, and, as far as the sense of self-preserv- 

 ation goes, very highly educated. They know, even 

 if they are busily feeding, exactly how far they 

 mean to let your punt creep up towards them, and 

 when they rise they will not come in your direction. 

 I have once or twice filled my shooting-pockets, but 

 have only been able to get the birds either singly 

 or by couples, the greatest number that ever fell to 

 the shot being four, and this was when they came 

 spinning along the lap of the tide. 



The birds look at a distance quite a dense mass. 

 Any one unused to them would expect it to be as 

 easy to drop at least a dozen as it would be to shoot 

 into a barn with the doors wide open. I have 

 known people holding such an opinion to be taken 

 out on purpose that they might have a chance of 

 proving its truth, and yet never all through the day 

 have they been able to drop a single bird. Even a 



