360 SHOOTING. 



clumsy birds on the wing, and are killed without 

 difficulty when they can be made to rise. When 

 shot at swimming, the shooter should take aim and 

 fire instantaneously, or they will be under water 

 while he is drawing the trigger. 



WILD-FOWL SHOOTING FROM A PUNT, WITH A LARGE 

 SHOULDER-GUN. 



We quote the following from Colonel Hawker's 

 directions for shooting wild-fowl from a punt, with 

 a large shoulder-gun : 



" In following wild-fowl, it is easier to get within 

 twenty yards of them by going to lee-ward, than 

 a hundred and fifty if directly to windward, so 

 very acute is their sense of smelling. 



" The best time, therefore, to have sport with a 

 canoe and a shoulder-gun, (provided it be low water 

 or half ebb while you are hid in the creeks,) is in 

 clear, frosty, moonlight nights, when the wind 

 happens to blow towards you as you face the moon. 

 It is then impossible for the wild-fowl to smell you, 

 and you may, by getting them directly under the 

 light, have the most accurate outline of every bird, 

 and even distinctly see them walking about, at a 

 much greater distance than a gun would do execu- 

 tion. From thus being on the shining mud-banks, 

 they appear quite black, except some of the old 

 cock widgeons, on the wings of which the white is 

 often plainly to be seen. 



" On arriving sufficiently near, should the water 

 be so low that you cannot present your gun at the 

 birds without kneeling or standing up, you must 



