90 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



a leg to this feeble stake to save himself, it was surmised,, 

 from being washed away, meaning, probably, to stand the 

 flood out ; but the exposure and cold proved too severe. He 

 had been dead several hours when a lobster boat found 

 him. 



But time and tide will not allow much space just at this 

 juncture for melancholy reflections, and the skipper draws- 

 the attention of the " gents " to a couple of widgeon that are 

 coming up wind at a great pace. It is doubtful whether 

 they will pass within shot, but fate has marked them, and 

 they sweep nearer and nearer. Some fifty yards away, one 

 is bagged in very good style, though the other gets off scathe- 

 less, untouched by a hasty shot. Then a heron goes over 

 the water to some fishy pool he wots of on the far side, with 

 neck folded back and long legs trailing behind, as high above- 

 the world as an aeronaut making meteorological observations. 

 Sandpipers succeed singly or in flocks, and subscribe a victim 

 or two to the bag ; lapwings, tame and silly, also paying' 

 dearly for their disregard of ordinary caution, and their 

 cousins, the golden plovers, more business-like, wheeling* 

 hither and thither on rapid wings, showing their numbers 

 clearly, or becoming almost invisible, as the position of their 

 bodies varies against the dark background of the saltings. 

 These, and many other birds that winter sends to gratify the 

 rough shooter, people the estuary and afford shots more or 

 less exciting, from sunrise to sunset. 



While the puntsman fires his big gun, it may be but once 

 in twenty-four hours, the wild-fowler, who uses a breech- 

 loader, has better and more exciting sport or at least more 

 varied. A strict chronicle of his day's work in a good river, 

 in a hard frost, would be a difficult task to undertake. Each 

 shot he fires is distinct in itself, and the pleasure of working 

 up to his birds, and the knowledge he gains of the curious 

 ways, are often keener than the final successful result of his 

 shot. 



A taste once conceived for such sport, as that I have 



