1 9 o BROADLAND SPORT 



which it would be impossible for a stranger to reach the 

 staithe unless he had the assistance of a pilot. There are 

 one or two small islands in the broad upon which wildfowl 

 love to plume themselves. The fishing is good provided 

 one can find the right swims, a great improbability without 

 local assistance. Boats may be obtained at about one shilling 

 per day. The shooting is preserved, although it is nothing 

 like so good as it used to be ; still, fowl of all varieties may 

 be daily seen. 



The annual coot shoot at Hickling was an event eagerly 

 looked forward to by everyone who owned a gun within 

 ten miles. The slaughter was great and the shooting wild, 

 reckless and dangerous. To give a brief outline, the shooters 

 are divided into two .parties, those on the land and those on 

 the water ; those on the land choose a certain bay or part of 

 the broad which they surround, whilst those on the water 

 form the boats in well- organised lines and drive the birds 

 towards the bay. When the birds are encircled the shooters 

 take no pains to conceal themselves, and the birds, finding 

 themselves hemmed in on all sides, and realising the trap into 

 which they have fallen, take to wing and escape as best they 

 can, by running the gauntlet through the hottest of hot 

 serenades. The numbers of the slain are counted by 

 hundreds, but of late years the custom of holding public 

 shoots has been discontinued, or, when it has been 

 arranged, it has been kept so secret that only those living 

 in the immediate neighbourhood have been able to partici- 

 pate in it. 



Before the Norfolk and Suffolk Fisheries Act * came into 

 force the pike at Hickling were netted and the number of fish 

 then taken seems to us now as incredible, whereas considering 

 how the fish have been preserved during the past ten years, 

 one might almost be inclined to think the water was in- 

 sufficient to hold them. 



Had the Broads Protection Society of London won their 

 case concerning the public rights on Hickling Broad, the 



* See Appendix. 



