94 BROADLAND SPORT 



nearer to the congregated mass without sounding an alarm. 

 He may be hours, sometimes days, before he has the satis- 

 faction of relinquishing his scull for the trigger ; but patience 

 is a virtue, and success, in the long run, will inevitably attend 

 those who persistently persevere. It is not unusual to be 

 several hours in traversing one hundred yards across flooded 

 marshes, but such patience is generally rewarded in the end. 

 And oh ! the excitement experienced when laying-to a large 

 number of wildfowl ; it far exceeds anything that can be 

 described. It savours of the kind of excitement that is felt 

 when all depends upon the issue of a single cast ; like the 

 feelings of a man whose whole fortune hangs upon the result 

 of a horse race and who is watching the panting quadrupeds 

 tear up the straight for home locked neck and neck. Then, 

 perhaps, after an hour or more breathless excitement, and 

 severe trial to the nerves, your cup of pleasure remains un- 

 tasted on account of a miss-fire, or even more trifling mishap, 

 followed by the roaring of many pinions, like the waters of 

 a cataract, as all rise in a moment and are gone, lost to sight 

 with none left to make their memory dear ; you alone remain. 

 How often does one make a shot such as that mentioned ? 

 Not more than once or twice in a lifetime. Perhaps the 

 gunner may be indefatigably working the whole winter in 

 an estuary crowded with birds, and scarcely obtain half a 

 dozen good chances during the whole season. And further, 

 a gunner has other things to learn besides the management 

 of a boat under oar or canvas, and the handling of a staunchion 

 gun ; he must be a good judge of weather, a man of indomit- 

 able courage and perseverance, well conversant with tides and 

 winds, a thorough ornithologist, so that he can at once recog- 

 nise every species by sound or sight, besides understanding 

 the different actions and habits peculiar to each section of the 

 tribe, as they all require different handling accordingly. 

 When he turns out in the early morning, long before day- 

 break, he should know by the elements and barometer where 

 to find his quarry, and how, in all probability, they will be 

 engaged as soon as he arrives within earshot of their haunts. 



