44 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



be no unseemly cachinnations to distract your attention from the operation in 

 hand. You may buy your experience dearly, but you will have the fun all to 

 yourself, and this means something to a sensitive man. 



The first time we ever went out we spent a large portion of the morning 

 in the doleful task of baling out water let in by an ill-fitting cork, and in due 

 course of time we got stranded while trying to stop the leak. In fact, at Dell 

 Quay the best thing a beginner can do is to go out just as the tide is coming 

 in. The muds around are the last covered, and such birds as are about are 

 sure to visit them. You are thus certain of half an hour's good shooting 

 without the risk of getting stuck, and, after this, one can put up with the 

 inconvenience of any stoppage incurred while following the retreating tide. 



It must be confessed that after an East Coast estuary, the sport is some- 

 what tame so far as the prospect of rarities goes. True, I have in my 

 collection an Avocet killed in Emsworth Creek, and a Black-tailed Godwit 

 said to have come from Siddlesham, but, as a rule, it is the sort of place where 

 one looks upon a Redshank or Little Stint as a good bird, though the part 

 near Appledram Sluice is noted for Green Sandpipers, one of which birds once 

 nearly cost me a ducking, for I risked a standing shot to get it, and the punt, 

 which had been guaranteed by its owner as a conveyance wherein one might 

 circumnavigate the Isle of Wight in safety, was sorely tried so far as balance 

 went, when I staggered round it after the recoil. Common Sandpipers also 

 frequent the drains opposite the sluice, while there is a projecting corner just 

 beyond, from which one can get shots at most of the smaller waders as they 

 fly round on their way to the last muds of all. 



The reed-fringed water near Fishbourne is doubtless the place where, 

 according to Captain Knox, a famous gunner named Carter once secured two 

 Bearded Tits; and the drains and small streams in these meadows nearly 

 always have in the autumn a good sprinkling of Kingfishers. They often 

 stray into the estuary itself, and may be seen sitting on any small posts along 

 its margin. 



The Turtle Dove is another bird here commonly met with. They are 

 very numerous on the inland fields, and often come down to the edge of the 

 saltings, like the domestic pigeons from the Fishbourne farms. At times I 

 have seen a Cormorant flying heavily near the old mill, and the commoner 

 Gulls, with an occasional Greater Black-back, scatter over the mudflats as 

 soon as ever the tide goes down. Wading deep at the edge of the tideway, or 

 sitting hunched up in sombre exclusiveness, will be found as a rule at least 

 one Heron, often more ; but the Herons here are well able to take care of 

 themselves, and are a very different race to their New Forest relatives on the 



