I 88 WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 



shank, grey plover, cormorants, widgeon, seapie, 

 and curlew. If the breeze comes from the 

 north, and is moreover freighted with drifts 

 and gusts of sleet, so much the better. You 

 may often advance on your prey wrapped in a 

 winding-sheet of powdery hail, and, indeed, the 

 birds get apparently confused in these seasons 

 of exceptional severity, and blunder within 

 range in the most sudden and unexpected 

 manner. Of course you do not fire at gulls, 

 but sea-lark are not to be despised in a crust 

 cover containing a few slices of fresh beef, a 

 sprig of borage, some eggs, and a dash of 

 white-wine sauce. The curlew is almost un- 

 approachable itself, and will detect the fowler 

 through every disguise. The ' whaup ' is not 

 content with saving itself, but will warn the 

 other birds of your manoeuvres with a cry of 

 emphatic meaning. The curlew has a powerful 

 note, and seems to be able to vary the key at 

 will, so as to communicate definite intelligence 

 to its companions. The melancholy, drear 

 desolation of a long shore on a wild autumn 

 afternoon, is impressively marked by the in- 

 tensely sorrowful clang of the different waders 



