PUNTING IN CHICHESTER HARBOUR. 



45 



Beaulieu River. They are perhaps the most interesting birds in the harbour, 

 and with good glasses one can watch their fishing operations without difficulty, 

 even from the top of the sea wall. 



As the tide went down, we used to drift past the Quay, and make our way 

 towards Itchenor, and anyone wanting a Curlew or Whimbrel was likely to 

 find some feeding on these extensive muds. Bringing a Curlew to bag is a 

 very different matter to finding it, as all shore shooters are well aware ; 



THE JOYS OF PUNTING. 



indeed, in such open localities whistling and lying up in their line of flight, il 

 there happens to be any cover, are the only methods that ever meet with 

 much success. 



In Norfolk, on the other hand, I have thrice almost trodden on the bird. 

 Where there are bushes at the edge of the saltings, they are wont to harbour 

 in these, when the wind is in certain quarters, and having once got into them 

 they trust to the cover they afford and lie as well as game birds. There is 

 something almost ludicrous in the way a Curlew makes off if you do happen to 

 surprise him ; the situation must seem so strange to a bird which generally 



