1 94 The Amateur Poacher 



resounds with their strange cries. When ponds and 

 lakes are frozen hard is the best time for sport in 

 these irrigated fields. All day long ^the ducks will 

 stand or waddle to and fro on the ice in the centre 

 of the lake or mere, far out of reach and ready to 

 rise at the slightest alarm. But at night they seek 

 the meadow where the water, running swiftly in 

 the carriers, never entirely freezes, and where, if the 

 shallow spots become ice, the rising current flows 

 over it and floods another place. 



There is, moreover, never any difficulty in getting 

 the game when hit, because the water, except in the 

 main carriers, which you can leap across, hardly rises 

 to the ankle, and ordinary water-tight boots will 

 enable you to wade wherever necessary. This is a 

 great advantage with wild fowl, which are sometimes 

 shot and lost in deep ooze and strong currents and 

 eddies, and on thin ice where men cannot go and 

 even good dogs are puzzled. 



