CHAPTER XXVIII. 



NIGHT-PUNTING. 



[Continued.'] 



" The wild-fowl cries upon the sedgy mere ; 

 I see it not in motion yet I hear 

 Of splashing wings and trailing feet the sound." 



HOWITT'S Yew-book. 



NIGHT-PUNTING, when once well learnt, is the most satisfactory of 

 any branch of the sport ; when wind, tide, and moon are favourable 

 to the pursuit, and there are wild-fowl on the waters, the experienced 

 punter is invariably more or less successful. 



There is no time of day or night so suitable for punting- as the 

 day-break. The punter should proceed to the most favoured haunts 

 of the birds some little while before-hand ; and soon as the first day- 

 dawn appears, he may cautiously move his punt a-head by the back 

 strokes of his oar, going directly in face of the dawn, when, from the 

 light thrown upon the water by the opening sky, the punter will the 

 more readily detect any birds which may be in his track ; and being 

 in the shade himself, golden opportunities frequently occur, where- 

 with to repay the early riser for his exertions. 



During severe frost, the midnight punter will find no lack of sport 

 in salt-water bays and rivers : wild-fowl are compelled to seek their 

 food in the salt feeding-grounds at such a time ; and widgeon and 

 duck, for the most part, stay all night in such places rather than take 

 their flight inland, where nought but hard ground, ice, and dis- 

 appointment await them. 



The midnight sportsman must be equally watchful with his ears by 

 night as with his eyes by day; indeed, he will require the best 

 services of both those organs during moonlight, for it would be a 

 useless night-excursion to sit with the back in the direction from 

 which sport is anticipated 5 to say nothing of the inconvenience of 



