334 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



shooting, proceeded towards the fleet. I had not gone 

 fifty yards on my way when Grouse, after " feathering " 

 round a patch of dry rushes, flushed a covey of thirteen 

 partridges, a brace of which were added to the bag. In- 

 deed, it would have been difficult for the veriest tyro to 

 have muffed such an easy right and left as those little 

 brown birds afforded. 



Suddenly I heard the far-reaching call of a redshank, 

 which appeared to come from the saltings close by, and 

 motioning young Togood to put the slip on the dog and 

 to remain silent, I commenced to crawl noiselessly up the 

 rough side of the escarpment, pushing my gun before 

 me. At length my head was on a level with the top of 

 the wall, and keeping my face well screened behind a tall 

 growth of sword grass, I brought a pair of binoculars to 

 bear on every patch of ooze and muddy runnel that 

 seemed likely to harbour the wader. Beyond a small 

 flock of black-headed gulls and a few old Royston crows, 

 which quartered every foot of the mud and salt marshes 

 for dead fish and other offal thrown up by the last flood 

 tide, there was not a sign of bird life to be seen anywhere : 

 and the hoarse cries of the gulls alone broke the quietude 

 of the morning. 



" Gone ! " thought I ; but even as the thought 

 flashed through my mind, again I heard the " te-u-ke, 

 te-u-ke " of a redshank. Half a minute later a couple 

 of these birds rose from a deep winding gut within easy 

 shot of me, and, like a pair of feathered hooligans, away 

 they sped over the saltings, shrieking and scolding 



