ON FOWLERS AND WILD-FOWLING. 175 



faction. Colonel Hawker did not pose as a natu- 

 ralist, but he wrote facts. The various mechanical 

 contrivances that he invented have, with slight 

 modifications to suit the present time, been uni- 

 versally accepted. He had a most accomplished 

 fowler and puntsman, whose name was Buckle. 

 For a time all went well with the Colonel and 

 Buckle. Then they began to differ, as employer 

 and employed will at times, and Buckle left him. 

 The poor fellow died in a workhouse a few years 

 back, aged eighty. 



A proper fowling-punt is built from the very best 

 materials, light and strong. A single-handed punt 

 for paddling to fowl, to carry a swivel-gun of from 

 80 to 112 Ib. weight, together with a man of about 

 twelve stone, may be in total length a little over 

 18 feet, pointed stem and stern, decked fore and 

 aft, and flat - bottomed. A punt like this would 

 be propelled by short paddles, worked over the 

 sides, the fowler being flat on the bottom of the 

 punt. In the shallows a pole, called a setting-pole, 

 would be used, or the edge of a paddle, according 

 to circumstances. 



When the fowler has found his fowl, he works 



