NIGHT-PUNTING. 175 



One man, a shoemaker, who would have done far wiser to have 

 stuck to his " last," was groping about on a cloudy night, amidst 

 a numher of widgeon, whose constant " whe-oh !" " whe-ow !" so 

 bewildered him, that he knew not in which direction to pursue them, 

 until a dark moving object attracted his attention, which he im- 

 mediately supposed to be the identical company of birds from which 

 the noise proceeded ; and not imagining for one moment that it could 

 be anything else, he levelled his punt-gun, and deliberately pulled 

 trigger ! At the same instant, the shrieks of a man in the point- 

 blank direction of his gun, convinced him he had been mistaken in 

 supposing the dark moving object to have been a knob of widgeon ; 

 and, on pulling alongside, found his unfortunate victim, an ex- 

 perienced punter, in great agony, with three shots in his wrist 

 and arm. 



Fortunately the sufferer's punt was of rather thicker material than 

 the ordinary class of gunning-punts, and the shot had not penetrated 

 quite through the side-planks. The punter had, the moment before, 

 been setting up to some widgeon, and it was whilst in the very act, that 

 the shoemaker fired the luckless shot. Had the sufferer's head or 

 any part of his body been above the sides of the punt, there is little 

 doubt but the shot would have proved fatal. Enough mischief had, 

 however, been done to the arm and wrist to deprive him of its use 

 during a period extending over many months. 



The other accident occurred a few weeks later, under precisely 

 similar circumstances, except that the two performers were both in- 

 experienced, and were punting one at the other, muzzle to muzzle, 

 each supposing the other to be a little knob of wild -fowl. One man 

 fired, and, luckily, but one grain of shot took effect, though that a 

 most lamentable and ill-fated one it entered the other's right eye, 

 and for ever closed it. During several subsequent weeks it was feared 

 he would die, until a skilful surgeon succeeded in extracting the shot ; 

 the man's life was saved, but the eye entirely lost. 



These are facts which have come under my own immediate observa- 

 tion ; let them act as warnings to those who may have a relish for 

 the infatuating sport of night-punting, not to venture until thoroughly 

 instructed in the art, and never to shoot until quite certain the object 

 aimed at is in reality a species of the feathered tribe. Nothing but 

 experience can make a man an adept at the science of night-punting. 



