244 THE STALE. 



evidently not adopted by the English troops till several 

 years afterwards. 



It will readily be understood by all sportsmen, that with 

 such a weapon as the " caliver," much practice and 

 patience must have been requisite to bring it within range 

 of the fowl, and use it with effect. The successful use of 

 a modern punt-gun necessitates an amount of skill and 

 judgment which those only who have tried it can really 

 appreciate. How much greater must have been the 

 difficulties of the wild-fowler of the sixteenth century, 

 whose rude gun and inferior powder necessitated a much 

 nearer approach to the birds ! We can sympathize with 

 Cardinal Beaufort, when he exclaimed 



" Believe me, cousin Gloster, 

 Had not your man put up the fowl so suddenly, 

 We had had more sport." 



Henry VI. Part II. Act ii. Sc. i. 



The wild-fowler who could not succeed in "stalking" 

 and shooting the birds in the way we have described, 

 often employed another method of securing them, namely, 

 by means of " a stale," as it was termed. This was a 

 stuffed bird of the species the fowler wished to decoy, and 

 which was set up in as natural a position as possible, either 

 before a net or in the midst of several "springes." By 

 imitating the call of the passing birds, the fowler would 

 draw their attention to the " stale," and as soon as they 



