SHORE SHOOTING FROM A BOAT. 13 



when we did approach these happy hunting grounds, we had to be content 

 with the boatman's account of what he had shot there on former occasions. 

 Common politeness prevented us from suggesting doubts as to his veracity, but 

 we were dimly conscious that these stories had been told to other customers 

 before, and had at all events lost nothing by the telling. 



After lying across the main channel for half an hour without a shot, 

 B at length determined on a stroll through some bushes on the chance 



STARTING DOWN THE ESTUARY. 



of picking up a rare warbler ; but fortune seemed to have deserted us for the 

 time, and soon by general consent it was decided to make a further move 

 towards the bar. On the way we shot an immature Common Tern by mistake 

 for a Black one, a mishap which proved a blessing in disguise, for when we 

 reached our destination, and espied two Sandwich Terns in the distance, the 

 fisherman tied our late victim to a string, and, waving it vigorously round his 

 head while he imitated the Sandwich call-note, at length sent it whizzing into 

 the sea. It was an anxious moment as the line fluttered out. At first the 



