290 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



three at a meal comfortably. Six full curlews well 

 hung and nicely cooked, if nothing else was served, 

 I should call about enough for two people. A 

 searching north-easter will let you know what teeth 

 were given for. After being out for hours, with 

 only a pipe of tobacco as a stop-gap, one feels as if 

 one could eat even " hoody-crow pie." Fortunately 

 there was always a sale for the beautiful fowl, and if 

 one fowler had bad luck, a companion who had been 

 more fortunate shared his bag with him ; the next 

 day matters might be reversed. 



As a rule, the day's sport, when the fowls were 

 sold and the money laid out for home use, after 

 paying for powder and shot, was worth one large 

 loaf, one ounce of tea, one ounce of tobacco, and a 

 pound of bacon to. cut in rashers and fry, making 

 a meal for the family, who anxiously waited for 

 father's return. But this was when matters went 

 fairly well; many a time have I seen them all 

 come in from different points of the marshes with- 

 out a bird. 



Wild ducks, or mallards, as they are called, 

 were shot as a rule at flight-time, coming in or 

 going out to their feeding - grounds. The early 



