AN OLD CHESHIRE WILD-FOWLER 127 



obtained. Ducks of various kinds mallard, teal, wigeon, 

 pintails, even the rare garganey fell to his gun ; sometimes 

 he would slip down to the Point of Ayr, risking rough 

 weather, and on the banks obtain " black ducks and 

 tufters " (scoters and tufted ducks). Curlew, golden and 

 grey or " silver " plover, and small waders were market- 

 able; once he declared he got 240 knots at a shot, and 

 considering how these birds crowd together when the tide 

 flows his story may well have been true. Shovelers he 

 knew, but called them " spoonbills," and when he really 

 obtained the latter bird he distinguished it as a " white 

 spoonbill." 



Those who condemn wild-fowling as massacre know 

 nothing of the sport, nor of the avifauna of the tidal 

 estuaries; apparently large bags obtained with the " big 

 gun " are trifles compared with the vast hordes of fowl 

 which frequent the flats and saltings in winter. The shots 

 are difficult to obtain, as often as not are not obtained, 

 and a second shot is impossible anywhere near the first for 

 some considerable time. The skill, knowledge, endurance, 

 patience, and pluck required to make a successful 

 " gunner " make wild-fowling one of the best sports; it 

 is far too arduous and dangerous for the majority; as a 

 profession it no longer pays. When it is, as in this case 

 it was, a means of livelihood, no one has a right to criti- 

 cise; wild- fowl are alike food for rich and poor. 



William Kemp, " Billy th' Duck," came to Cheshire 

 at the very beginning of the nineteenth century; James 

 Kemp died in 1905. For nearly a century father and 

 sons for James had a brother, who also for a time followed 

 his father's profession led the way as Cheshire wild- 

 fowlers. Others imitated them with more or less success, 

 but now, in days of easier carriage, professional wild- 

 fowling has vanished from the county. 



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