194 RAIL-SHOOTING. 



net is a great convenience ; but to mark well, a man 

 must be endowed by nature with that peculiar gift. 

 Among the vast mass of undistinguishable marine 

 plants that spring from the muddy bottom and rise a 

 few inches or many feet above the surface, it would 

 seem impossible to determine, within an approach to 

 accuracy, where some bird, visible only for a moment 

 and cut down when just topping the reeds, has 

 fallen ; and when another bird rises to meet the same 

 fate, and perhaps a dozen are down before the first 

 is retrieved, successful marking becomes a miracle. 

 With some punters on the Delaware, where their 

 names are famous, so wonderful is the precision that 

 every bird, if killed outright, will be recovered, and 

 even a poor marksman will make a respectable return; 

 but when the gentleman shoots badly and the man 

 marks worse, rail-shooting is unprofitable. 



For this sport, thus followed, it will be seen that 

 a punter is indispensable, and it is made the business 

 of a large class of men along the salt marshes where 

 the rail most do congregate ; and wherever a punter 

 cannot be obtained, as in the wilder portions of our 

 country, rail-shooting cannot be had. 



From the necessity for rapid firing, the immense 

 advantage of a breech-loader must be apparent ; the 

 tide rarely serves for over two or three hours, and 

 to kill more than a hundred birds in that time with 

 a muzzle-loader is a remarkable feat, as it requires 

 almost the entire time for the mere loading and firing 

 of the gun ; but the breech-loader may be charged 

 in an instant, and enables the sportsman to improve 



