147 



WILDFOWLING WITH THE STANCHION-GUN. 



THAT the enthusiasm even of Colonel Hawker, in his mas- 

 terly exposition of the art of wildfowling afloat, has failed to 

 popularize this branch of sport, appears to show that the 

 somewhat arduous conditions and that inherent element of 

 uncertainty (which to its disciples are the very cream of the 

 whole thing) will ever preclude more than a limited section 

 of the shooting world from enjoying a practical acquaintance 

 with this pursuit. To follow it up hy day and by night in 

 winter certainly entails some personal inconveniences, and 

 perhaps even hardships. Probably, too, it demands a com- 

 bination of mental and muscular qualities which are not 

 often conjoined. Keenness, patience, and untiring persever- 

 ance go without saying ; but beyond these at least a degree 

 of hardihood and physical strength are essential, as well as 

 a cast of mind able to endure with equanimity the inevitable 

 failures, and those disappointments which so frequently 

 occur from causes beyond the fowler's control. 



Distaste, or lack of the requisite qualifications, is, however, 

 no valid reason for attempting to cast aspersions on the 

 sport. It has always appeared to me a matter for regret 

 that writers like St. John, otherwise so well acquainted with 

 his subject, should go out of their way to throw a slur upon 

 a branch of sport in the practice of which they were wholly 

 unversed. Since his day, almost every casual writer on sport 

 has thought it necessary to follow on the same lines, and 

 inveigh vaguely against the pursuit as one " unworthy of 

 the name of sport " . . . . " only an occupation for 

 fishermen," and such like. The general drift of the ideas 

 of these writers appears to underlie an erroneous assump- 

 tion that (1) it must be a simple business, given a large gun 



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