THE GAME-DUCKS. 181 



in front of him. He will not move a muscle now, though 

 the water rises inches around him, and, as the ducks draw 

 inshore, he has the reward he sought. One by one his dog 

 brings in the slain, and he departs homewards satisfied. 

 Verily it is hard and bitter work this flight-shooting on our 

 British coasts in winter, and one can only admire the reso- 

 lute pluck which alone can command success. But zeal is 

 sometimes carried to excess, and, in my knowledge, the 

 strongest constitutions have become mere wrecks from the 

 long hours of wet and bitter cold spent on those wintry 

 oozes. 



The objects sought by the different ducks on their noc- 

 turnal excursions vary in almost each species. The Mal- 

 lard, with its omnivorous tastes, is not confined to any 

 single feeding ground, but speeds away on divers courses, 

 some far inland to root about in potato fields, or search 

 for stray grains in the stubble. Others make straight for 

 some clover seeds or "hard corn" they wot of; while 

 another, and far the largest contingent, remain on the 

 tidal oozes to feed on the Zostera. These last show so 

 strong a predilection for fresh water and its productions, that 

 more of them will be shot by lying in wait about the places 

 where small streams of fresh water from the land run down 

 across the oozes than anywhere else. 



Wigeon, on the other hand, feed almost exclusively on 

 the green blades of the Zostera marina and other algae 

 and marine plants which grow in such profusion on the 

 mud-flats, and seldom (so far as one can see in the dark) 

 pass beyond the limits of the " full- sea mark." Neither 

 fresh water, grain, nor potatoes have any attractions for 

 them, the great oozy plains being their resort for the night. 

 Here, as soon as the disturbances of the flight- shooters 

 have ceased for the night, and each trip of fowl has at last 

 managed to effect a secure landing on the salt-slakes, they 

 get to work in earnest. An animated scene there must then 

 be on the flats, under the rays of the moon, could one's eye 

 but pierce her bright but deceptive light. 



To come to terms with Wigeon, the best time is during 

 the small hours of the morning, at a period when the tide 



