32 WILD-FOWL SHOOTING 



shore, his wont is not to fly, but to swim majestically 

 away. 



Widgeon and teal are approached in the same way as 

 wild-ducks, only the widgeon are less shy than the ducks, 

 and the teal than the widgeon. You may sometimes, 

 in calm weather, see widgeon in a large flock purring 

 and whistling a couple of hundred yards from the shore ; 

 you need give yourself no trouble about them, as they 

 will probably not leave their resting-place until they feed 

 in the evening. Always try to get a heavy shot at 

 widgeon, which, with a little patience, you may generally 

 accomplish. Teal are usually in small flocks ; so that, if 

 you can get two or three in line, you had better fire, 

 for fear of losing the sitting chance altogether. I once 

 killed six at a shot ; but, except \vhen they collect in 

 small ponds and drains about the loch-side, so good an 

 opportunity seldom occurs. I have occasionally seen 

 shovellers on our lochs ; but only in the hardest winters. 

 They resemble wild-ducks in their habits the only one 

 I ever shot was among a flock of ducks. 



As an instance of what may be done by patience and 

 caution, I may conclude this paper by mentioning, that 

 the gamekeeper of a relation, having seen a flock of 

 ducks pitched upon the shore, and no way of getting 

 near them but over a bare field, crawled flat upon his 

 face a distance of three hundred yards, pushing his gun 

 before him, not daring even to raise his head, and at last 

 got within such fair distance, that he stopped four with 



