I 82 WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 



foreshore ; the plain inside stretches away for 

 miles with here and there islands of thick- 

 growing rush or of osiers or willows, with 

 ponds scattered throughout, and a coarse poor 

 grass growing over the black mould : at its 

 farthest run from the sea rises an upland of 

 heath-covered hillocks. A desolate landscape 

 enough, and yet full of promise for the wild- 

 fowl shooter. 



He should be furnished with a gun of long 

 range and a well-trained retriever, who will not 

 refuse on occasions to face even the white horses 

 of the sea in securing a cripple who has taken 

 to the water. He must also be provided with 

 a variety of cartridges, and will generally find 

 it useful to have a different-sized shot in each 

 barrel ; for a great part of the interest and ex- 

 citement of this sport consists in the unexpected 

 character and dimensions of the quarry that 

 may be flushed. Say you glance over the fen 

 of a bright October morning. The thin hoar 

 frost is melting away in circling wreaths, and 

 from the call of the watchful curlew high in air 

 you would learn that the tide is at its full, even 

 if you did not hear the sullen close boom of the 



