WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 



then another, then a series of splashes, then a 

 patter as of a fall of heavy rain, and there are 

 your ducks covering the whole surface of the 

 pool ! For a minute or two the birds are 

 motionless ; then they commence to make in- 

 quiries, apparently, of each other before pro- 

 ceeding to wallow and gobble and chuckle after 

 the fashion of their tamer kind. What a noise 

 the gun makes ! bang ! bang ! right and left ; 

 and how all the fen seems to wake up and 

 protest against the outrage ! curlew first, and 

 plover and snipe ; while the ducks, with a few 

 frightened quacks, leave their dead and wounded 

 comrades, and are out of sight in a second. 

 Rheumatism and ague may be the avengers of 

 the slaughtered fowl, and you are followed to 

 your very lodge door by the warning of the ever- 

 lasting curlew, whom you can even hear pro- 

 claiming your misdeeds with his " O yes ! O 

 yes !" over the waste as you rest your head on 

 your pillow for the night. 



