WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 103 



mallard built her nest; finding a security there not 

 always to be had among the reeds and sedge, where 

 the rise of the water, consequent on rainy weather, or 

 the fall of it, which succeeded a drought, where alike 

 detrimental to the safety of the eggs. Notwithstand- 

 ing this risk, however, not a few still placed their frail 

 " lares " among the reeds ; and though, no doubt, the 

 fond hopes of many a mother if waterfowl may be 

 supposed to have hopes ebbed lower and lower as the 

 waters rose, and rose again as the waters fell; and 

 though not unfrequently the nest and the hopes were 

 damped together, yet broods sufficiently numerous sur- 

 vived the intrigues of the elements to keep the loch 

 and the neighbourhood fairly stocked with waterfowl. 



Such was the locality. A few words should also be 

 devoted to the nature of our dress. For myself, I was 

 clad in Crimean waterproof boots, reaching nearly to 

 the thigh ; a most serviceable protection against damp 

 to any one who is constantly in the water, and who 

 does not wade beyond a certain depth ; but at all times 

 awkward, as when once wetted they become so very 

 heavy as to prevent any quick motion on dry land, and 

 if the wearer once wade deep enough to admit the 

 water at the top of his boots, he will regret that he ever 

 put them on at all. What is proof against wet is also 

 necessarily proof to retain it when once admitted, and 

 in such a case a leaky pair of worn-out laced boots is 

 far preferable to the best patent waterproofs ever made. 

 This I soon learned by unpleasant experience : my two 

 companions, on the other hand, were too well ac- 

 quainted with the place to which we were going, as well 

 as with the merits of such attire, to follow my example. 

 Their dress on the occasion was of the ordinary kind, 

 and that the oldest and least valuable they possessed. 



Arrived on the spot, an event which was accom- 



