BIRDS OF PREY 161 



the weather is more than usually severe. They also 

 serve the purpose of concealment for the long-shore 

 shooters when fowl are on the flats, for the watchers 

 thatch them roughly over with reeds. The word 

 fowl, of course, includes geese and ducks of all kinds. 

 All waders are styled hen-footed fowl, and to the 

 hen-footed tribe the duck-hawk directs much of his 

 attention, for they are excellent eating as a rule. A 

 coot or moorhen is good eating from my point 

 of view, let alone the plovers and curlews. When 

 ducks and teal come on the flats for the season, then 

 he is busy. Ducks are on the marshes all the year 

 round, and breed there. The young ducks, called 

 4 flappers,' are nearly as large as their parents, and 

 very tender. If the duck-hawk can catch one out of 

 the reeds, he interviews him at once ; but winter is 

 the best time for that the early part of it, if not too 

 severe, for the ducks do not desert the marshes then 

 for the coast, as they will do in the hard weather. 



Winter has set in, and the fowl are on the flats, 

 flying in various directions ; so is our hawk. Here 

 comes a spring of teal that a watcher has just put 

 up from a reedy dyke as he crossed the plank bridge 

 with some fodder for the sheep on his back. The 

 hawk rings round and manages to come in the nick 

 of time for him. He takes one moment, just behind 



M 



