148 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



and "dense masses" of fowl, to kill quite an indefinite 

 number ; and (2) that, as firing, say, a pound of duck-shot 

 into the " thick " of a number of birds necessarily wounds 

 as well as kills, the proceeding is therefore cruel and incon- 

 sistent with proper sportsmanlike instinct. 



Now the question of cruelty in sport is not one that I in- 

 tend to go into here. Cruelty is part of the set order of 

 things as ordained by Nature. Every form of life is preyed 

 upon by some other form ; not a creature but is the destined 

 food of some other ; throughout the animal world this rule 

 holds universally, and man, though the consummation of that 

 world, is after all but a predatory and carnivorous animal. 

 There must necessarily be some cruelty in sport, and in 

 many other of the affairs of life ; but that the element of 

 cruelty enters into the pursuit of punt-gunning to a greater 

 extent than is the case with many other forms of sport 

 I must unhesitatingly deny. Without being suspected of 

 wishing to animadvert on any branch of sport, I am certain 

 that the loss of wounded game say in Grouse-driving, 

 covert-shooting, or ferreting is quite as great, proportion- 

 ately, as in coast fowling with a stanchion-gun. Consider 

 the question for a moment. During a long day or night's 

 work, the punter gets on an average, say, two shots four is 

 the utmost I ever obtained myself. After each shot he knows 

 full well there will be no more fowl in his immediate neigh- 

 bourhood; consequently all attention is concentrated on 

 securing the " cripples." As long as a wounded or disabled 

 fowl remains ungathered, every exertion, ocular and muscular, 

 is strained to get it on board. It nevertheless undoubtedly 

 happens that, despite the utmost efforts, a certain proportion 

 of wounded fowl do escape at first, especially by night. 

 These are mostly but slightly-struck birds, which perhaps 

 showed little or no signs of having been hit. There is, how- 

 ever, another element which tends greatly to minimize the 

 sufferings of any escaped "pensioners." It must be remem- 

 bered that the moment a bird is wounded, it separates from 

 the rest, and becomes a comparatively easy prey to the first 

 gunner who chances to fall in with it. Hence, in any 

 harbour or estuary well frequented by fowl and fowlers, there 



