WILD WILD-DUCK 309 



over at so great a height that shooting is out of the question. 

 Then upon a starlight night they are so difficult to see that 

 hitting is out of the question, and it is only on cloudy, windy, 

 moonlit nights that much good can usually be done, and only 

 then is much execution likely if a good head wind is blowing 

 against the fowl. At most, flight shooting only lasts from a 

 quarter to half an hour in the evening. In the morning, when 

 the fowl have fed and betake themselves seawards, it may last 

 a good deal longer, especially if, after those have gone which 

 are not inclined to rest in their feeding-grounds (and there are 

 generally a good many of these), those grounds are disturbed 

 purposely. Flighting is a sport that has one very great advan- 

 tage : if positions are well chosen not too near either the 

 day home or the night feeding ground no harm whatever is 

 done by shooting every day. The fowl cannot be driven away 

 by that means. One hears the present generation of shooters 

 disparaging the easy shots their great-grandfathers gloried in, 

 but flight shooting is as old as the " scatter gun," and it is still 

 the most difficult of all shooting. The author's experience of 

 shooting in the half light is that it is next to impossible to hold 

 sufficiently forward. But this is an observation that he has 

 never been able to explain satisfactorily to himself. It is not 

 suggested that half light travels slower than good light, but 

 merely that the true position of the moving mark is not recog- 

 nised by the brain as quickly as anything in a good light. 



SHORE SHOOTING 



This sport is much more affected by the weather even than 

 flight shooting. Speaking broadly, the shore is a good place 

 for a youngster to learn the art of shooting in the early season, 

 say in September. Then the curlews and the golden and green 

 plover will be young, and the most blundering performer will 

 hardly be able to avoid getting near enough for a shot some- 

 times, and will not be able to prevent an occasional foolish 

 young thing flying into the load. A good many shots will be 

 fired at creatures going low down enough over water for the 



