WILD-FOWL SHOOTING 251 



full grown and at its best, is one of the most wary 

 of all our wild creatures. Hence the keenness of 

 the true sportsman to circumvent it, as best he 

 may ; and hence, also, the intrinsic superiority, 

 as I regard it, of wild-fowl shooting to all other 

 forms of British sport, outside the limits of the deer 

 forest or the grouse moor. You may, no doubt, 

 for the purposes of concealment, put up a circle 

 of furze, or a curtain of hurdles and sedge, upon 

 the bank of a river much frequented by wild fowl, 

 and so, when the autumnal migration is taking 

 place, or in a sudden access of bad weather, get a 

 few easy shots at the birds, as they fly past you, 

 or as they ride upon the water. But it will be only 

 a few ; for they soon learn to give a wide berth 

 to the suspicious spot, and take care to fly up or 

 down stream, at a distance of a hundred yards or 

 more away ; and you will do well frequently to 

 shift your screen and vary its form, if you do not 

 wish to return home from a stalk or a " stand " 

 empty-handed. A waterman may be working all 

 day long, as I have often observed, in the water- 

 meadows of the River Frome, at Stafford, or at 

 Lewel, in Dorsetshire, with shovel and pickaxe, 

 barely a stone's throw from a large flock of wigeon, 

 teal, and wild ducks, and they will take no notice 



