LEADENHALL MARKET. 121 



feathers on the mudflats, the gliding punt, the heavy boom of the punt-gun, 

 the sharp reports of the cripple-stoppers, and the triumphant return to the 

 shore. 



Or this half-emptied box of Dunlins. Can we not picture the " 'long- 

 shore" gunner as he steals upon the unsuspecting flock, and ruthlessly rakes 

 them while still standing on the muds, and all to provide one of the most 

 disappointing dishes that ever man was invited to partake of, for no one ever 

 has been, or ever will be, found to say that he likes Dunlin ? Hard by, an 

 epicure is examining some Golden Plover, carefully scrutinizing the feet, lest 

 the presence of a hind toe betray the fact that they are really " Grey" ; and 

 further on, again, some collector is haggling over the price of a Golden-Eye, 

 the salesman expatiating on the perfect condition of the bird, while the 

 would-be purchaser insists that it is badly shot in the neck and will never 

 make a respectable specimen. 



Many naturalists regularly visit the market in search of rarities, and many 

 are the rare birds which have been secured in this way. Varieties of the 

 genus Grebe and Crake, and, in the spring time, Ruffs from Holland, are 

 prizes which one may always hope to pick up ; and though this cannot be 

 considered the most sporting method of increasing one's collection, yet there 

 is nevertheless a certain fascination in spying out the birds ; and when 

 rheumatism and old age have conspired to stop our visits to the saltings, 

 Leadenhall presents itself as a substitute, and, for want of a better, is wel- 

 comed by many, if only because it serves as a connecting-link with the never- 

 to-be-forgotten triumphs of the past. 



Here we may renew acquaintance with the Pintail, one of the most 

 elegant of all the Ducks. They are to be seen sandwiched in between 

 Pochards, Teal, Wigeon, and Mallards, while here and there is suspended an 

 odd specimen of the Tufted Duck, or perhaps a Red-throated Diver, caught 

 napping in some seaside estuary, and despatched to London in a mixed con- 

 signment of Thrushes, shore-birds, and wild-fowl. In fact, as is the case 

 with shore-shooting, the uncertainty as to what may turn up next is one of 

 the chief elements that lend interest to a stroll round the market. The sales- 

 men are quick to divine the motives of the purchaser, and if they think he is 

 buying the bird to stuff, the price will vary in accordance with a rough 

 estimate as to the limits of their victim's gullibility. 



Turning out of the main thoroughfare into the labyrinth of dark and narrow 

 passages on the right, we come to that section of Leadenhall which is given 

 up to the vendors of live-stock. In one cage two rabbits are quietly munching 

 their cabbage, wholly oblivious of the fact that their next-door neighbour, a 



