30 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Febbuaby 1, 1898. 



smoothly. Having dug a hole about three feet in diameter 

 and three feet in depth, half the area was dug out another 

 two feet in depth. When this was done, and the straw 

 was put in and arranged round the sides, there was a 

 capital and snug retreat, if a little dirty, with a good seat 

 and plenty of room for the legs. 



The hole should be dug to such a depth that when 

 sitting in it the eyes are just above the surface of the 

 mudflat. Of course the shape of the hole can be varied 

 to suit its position. The water will not ooze through 

 the mud, and a well-dug hole will keep quite watertight 

 until the tide flows into it ; but sometimes the stratum 

 of mud is not very deep, and when the sand at the 

 bottom is reached the water will immediately come 

 through and soon flood the hole. A shallow oblong 

 hole, of the same depth all over, can easily be made 

 in this case. The plan then is to sit at the bottom and 

 stretch the legs 

 out, but this is 

 a more cramped 

 position than the 

 other, and shoot- 

 ing is conse- 

 quently made 

 more difficult. 

 Before getting 

 into the hole, 

 great care should 

 be taken in 

 levelling and 

 hiding as far as 

 possible the mud 

 that has been 

 thrown out, and 

 the fewer the 

 footmarks near 

 the hole the 

 better. 



Birds, and 

 especially the 

 wading birds, 

 have wonderfully 

 keen eyes, and 

 the slightest 

 elevation or dark 

 spot can be seen 

 ata long distance 

 on a mudflat. 



Once seated in 

 the hole the first 

 thing is to make 

 yourself com- 

 fortable. If the 



weather is cold the more straw you have and the thicker 

 your clothes the better. Little " pockets " can be gouged 

 out of the sides of your retreat, and filled with straw, 

 forming convenient receptacles for cartridges and field- 

 glasses. Cartridges should always be handy, because it is 

 not easy to get at coat pockets when crouching in a hole. 

 Nest a few little wisps of straw should be stuck here and 

 there round the rim of the hole on which to rest the gun. 

 Great care should be taken over this simple precaution. 

 In the excitement of the moment — say, when a big flock 

 of birds is approaching — the muzzle of the gun is apt to be 

 stuck into the mud, and when the gun is pulled away the 

 barrels are securely "corked." The result is a damaged 

 gun and perhaps a great opportunity missed. 



When everything is arranged to your satisfaction you 

 begin to look about you. You have the same view as a 



bitd would have when it is sitting upon the mud — and an 

 extraordinary view it is. Nothing but a flat expanse of 

 mud stretching for miles all round. There is nothing 

 to guide the eye — there is no correct idea of size or 

 distance ; a small stake a mile away looks enormous and 

 quite near. There is no living thing to be seen — nothing 

 but miles and miles of mud rolling away to your limited 

 horizon, where the water can now and again be made out 

 as it sparkles in the rays of a winter sun. Suddenly there 

 is a swish of wings behind you, and a little dunlin appears 

 like magic, and settles down within a few yards. Then 

 comes another and another, until there is a small flock of 

 them. Dunlin are silly little birds, and quite unlike the 

 other birds of the mudflats. They never see danger 

 until it is too late to escape. So these birds come and 

 settle down within a few yards of a deadly gun, and, with- 

 out looking round, immediately begin to feed. Common, 



tame, confiding, 

 inconspicuous, 

 low - bred httle 

 birds, they might 

 appropriately be 

 termed ihe 

 sparrows of the 

 mudflats. Never- 

 theless, they are 

 very interesting 

 to watch when 

 they are near, 

 and ignorant of 

 the presence of a 

 human being. 

 They feed very 

 industriously — 

 running up and 

 down the mud, 

 probing with 

 their slender biUs 

 here and there, 

 and singing in a 

 soft and pleasing 

 way all the time. 

 Now and again a 

 couple wiU have 

 a little dispute 

 about some 

 dainty morsel, 

 which results in 

 all sorts of little 

 antics. There is 

 never a stand-up 

 fight, but just a 

 little bickering 

 and pushing and dancing about and the affair is over ; one 

 of them gets the tit-bit, and the feeding goes on as peaceably 

 and assiduously as ever. The birds will walk all round 

 you, but sooner or later one comes within a foot of your 

 face, and then suddenly his terrible danger dawns upon 

 him. He is startled out of his life, and flies up with 

 a "tchurr," uttered as though he had a sudden catch 

 in the breath. The others follow suit, and you are once 

 more left in solitude. 



Now is the time to use the field-glasses. Ever so far 

 away there is a huge black mass on the mud — it is a flock 

 of, perhaps, six or eight thousand knot. Although to the 

 naked eye it looked like a great black cloth spread out upon 

 the mud, if you look carefully with the glasses you wUl see 

 that ii is continually moving. Every moment a bird flies 

 up to change its ground, and shows its white under-side, 



The Bar-tailol G,.ilwit. I'liotograi.lirtl from LiU' l.v R. B. L.nU'e 



