FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A DUNLIN. 23 



The two survivors flew shrieking over my head. For a moment I was too 

 horrified to move. 



" Not bad that for a start," said one of the butchers ; and then, while the 

 man with the sack gathered up the victims, he began advancing towards the 

 bank on which I crouched. Remembering that I was not worth a cartridge, I 

 rose with a confident "peep." Bang! bang! went the gun on an instant; a 

 hail of shots swept by me. Three of my long pinions were cut in two ; a toe 

 was severed from my right foot, and a third shot whizzed through the feathers 

 of my breast. Still no vital spot was touched, and I tore away amidst the 

 curses of the shooter and the derisive laughter of his friends. 



What could father have been thinking of ? These men spare anything ? 

 Not they ! They were shooting neither for the pot nor the cabinet ; their aim 

 was a colossal bag ! And now from a distant sandbank I watched them form 

 in long line across the estuary. Off they started, driving all the birds before 

 them in a terrified and frantic mob. No living thing came amiss to their 

 sportsmanship. Terns, Redshanks, Turnstones, Knots, Plovers, Dunlins, one 

 after the other sank into the mud. A sheep feeding at the edge of the saltings 

 received a pellet through the fleshy part of its nose ; an old mussel-seeker 

 similarly peppered in the lumbar regions, as he bent over his work, straight- 

 ened himself with language that would have made a self-respecting Dunlin 

 blush ; a man on board a tug, who ventured to remonstrate, was told that he 

 himself would be the next victim if he didn't go below. He went and he 

 stayed there ! Quid enim fads cum furiosus cogit et idem fortior ? The end 

 came at length; the place became a wilderness, hardly a bird in the same 

 parish, and these few as wild as Hawks. The butchers counted up their bag, 

 one hundred and thirty odd whether rare or common they knew not, neither 

 did they care ; they had broken their record. They left the estuary ; they 

 could sleep the sleep of the just. 



I did not expect to see any of my family again after that dreadful day, but 

 our liking for outlying drains and pools had proved our salvation ; we had just 

 kept clear of their beat, and we gathered together in the evening and 

 sorrowfully discussed the events of the day. Odd guns now frequented the 

 mudflats every morning, but, as father had prophesied, we single Dunlin seemed 

 to be contemned by all. Once I was surprised by a shooter with glasses, and 

 had to rise in front of him. He was going to fire, but fortunately I 

 remembered father's advice, and just got out a hurried "peep" in time. The 

 gun was lowered, and feeling that I was being examined through the glasses, 

 I flew slowly so as to give a full view of my plumage. The collector at last 

 turned his back. Thank goodness, he was satisfied and so was I. 



