CHAPTER XXXVI. 



WILD-SWAN SHOOTING. 



-" Majestic swan 



Or heavy goose with many a fowl beside 

 Of lesser size and note, who, when the world 

 Has sunk to rest, beneath the moonbeam dash 

 The sparkling tide." 



Fowling, a Poem : anno 1808. 



THE wild-swan ( Cygnus ferus ) is at all'times a bird of considerable 

 attraction to the wild-fowler. The sport of wild-swan shooting, 

 however, is so rare, that probably there are few sportsmen who can 

 boast of having 1 taken part in the diversion. In some localities the 

 killing of a wild-swan is looked upon as a notable performance ; and, 

 although no very difficult task to accomplish, it is, nevertheless, con- 

 sidered a distinguished achievement. 



A severe winter seldom passes without our being visited by some 

 of the wild-swan species from northern latitudes : but they gene- 

 rally remain off the coast, at sea, until a severe gale compels them 

 to seek less turbulent quarters. They then fly over-land, and alight 

 in the largest tidal river in the neighbourhood, or the one that is least 

 affected by ice ; and there they remain until the g'ale subsides, and 

 the sea becomes smoother. 



The punter should watch for the first abatement of the gale, and 

 proceed in his punt, as soon as the weather permits, and endeavour 

 to get the first shot. They are generally strangers to punts and 

 punters on first arrival in inland waters, and may be approached 

 under the most ordinary precautions. 



On the arrival of wild swans in a public river, they are such 

 conspicuous objects, and have so great an attraction, that every 

 wild-fowler in the neighbourhood is on the qui-vive to shoot them ; 

 and the midnight punter will often be surprised, on approaching a 



D D 



