MEN AND MANNERS 63 



shot it in the head "the blood flew yards /" He finally 

 dispatched it with an oar and sold it for thirty shillings. 



Both woodcocks and French partridges he had seen drop 

 into Breydon in foggy weather, and two or three times he 

 had retrieved hares that had attempted crossing the ice and 

 fallen into wakes between. 1 



The hardest old man of Breydon he ever knew was " Salt- 

 fish " or "Miser" Jex. In the coldest weather, when the 

 boat gathered hundredweights of ice, and the punt-gun was 

 encased in a mass of ice from the spray and moisture, " his 

 great hairy chest" would be all exposed. He would always 

 remark that " the weather never hurt any one." His face was 

 the most wrinkled of any man I ever knew. 



During a continuity of severe frosts the Broads became 

 thickly frozen over, and the many coots which people these 

 lagoons are sadly put-to for a means of livelihood. At such 

 times they will take to estuaries, and feed on what marine 

 or semi-marine plant-life comes in their way. A large flock 

 will come to Breydon to feed on the Zostera^ and offer to 

 local sportsmen an irresistible temptation to harass them. 

 The old gunners eagerly pursued them during the earlier 

 period of their visit, ere they had become rank ; for coots were 

 their own favourite game. More than one have told me of 

 the " fun " they have had in pursuing these birds, and the 

 pleasures of the table afterwards. 



" Short 'un " Page and " Gabey " Thomas were out one day 

 among the ice, and saw a large bunch of coots in a " wake.' 

 They could not get sufficiently near to them ; so, being un- 

 prepared in the matter of stockings to put over their boots, 

 they took off their woollen gloves and stuck their boots into 

 them. They got the boat on the ice, little " Short 'un" getting 

 into it to manipulate the gun, while Thomas pushed the boat, 

 sledge-like, within range. They secured twenty-five coots, 

 which they killed, another gunner soon after retrieving eight 

 of the wounded. The average Breydoner was certainly re- 

 sourceful ! 



Rime frosts and fogs may be somewhat interesting to 

 those who ramble along the Breydon walls, but neither of 



1 In December, 1906, a hare was observed in great straits in the soft ooze of 

 Breydon. It had evidently been pursued, and mistaking the mud for solid 

 ground had attempted crossing It was shot while vainly struggling to extricate 

 itself, its long legs having become fast in the ooze. 



