A Spanish System of Fowling 373 



behind one cahresto-ipony , that is, can amateur as well as the 

 professional, is a distinct handicap. We have done it ourselves, 

 and accepted the handicap merely to see the system in o])cration ; 

 yet by using more powerful weapons have probably killed as 

 many fowl at one shot as even the fabled totals of our friends. 



Obviously no comparison can be, or is, suggested as between 

 two totally different performances. It has been solely for the 

 purpose of learning the system, and also of enjoying unequalled 

 views of wildfowl close at hand, that we have occasionally put 

 in a day with the ca6re5^o-ponies, and here annex a few records 

 of shots made by this means, taken at random from our diaries. 



January 1, 1898. — Fh'ed three broadsides with two guns, a double 

 8- and a single 4-bore ; in the second case the fowl had just been badly 

 scared by a kite. Eesults : — 



(1) 59 wigeon, 3 teal 62 



(2) 30 „ 3 „ 33 



(3) 60 „ 1 „ 4 pintail, 4 slioveler . 69 



Total . . 164 



January 31, 1905. — In three shots at wigeon, the first being half 

 spoilt by a big black-backed gull, the authors (two guns) gathered : — 



27 + 51 + 48 = 126 wigeon. 



December 29, 1893. — Santolalla(2 guns), 78 teal, besides some coots, 

 at a single shot. 



January 1894. — Laguna Dulce ; three cahrestos with Spanish fowlers, 

 and two amateurs with big breech-loaders (a broadside of 5 barrels) : — 



198 teal (including about a dozen wigeon). 



A shot made in January 1894 seems worth recording merely 

 in respect of the numbers killed by only some seven ounces of 

 lead. An islet actually carijeted with teal was our target, and 

 two 12-bores, aided by an ancient Spanish muzzle-loader (about 

 10-bore), realised fifty head, to wit, forty-nine teal and one 

 mallard-drake. 



Geese will rarely admit of a])proach to the close quarters 

 necessary for effective work ; yet just on those rare exceptional 

 occasions we have secured (using heavy shoulder-guns) from six to 

 a dozen greylags in a day, once or twice more than this — five at 

 a shot being the maximum. 



