THE BIRD LIFE OF FORM BY. 53 



I never could get at the exact number he bagged with that famous 

 shot, it varied from 17 to 264, according to the amount of 

 drink he had in him. So we tramped on over the frosty 

 ground while now and again a peewit would rise up close to 

 us, then an old rat would scuttle away to the nearest dytche 

 with Pepper, the old fowler's dog in hot pursuit. 



A nice little animal is Pepper, a reddish brown mongrel of the 

 Spaniel type, with a bit of Irish terrier showing in the hard 

 coat. Fishermen will tell you of Pepper's cunning. Young 

 " fleeters " who think themselves clever, always get as near 

 old Mat as they can at flight time, for he knows more than 

 they do, and is usually fairly well settled in the ducks' line of 

 flight. Perhaps they have luck, and are rewarded by the thud 

 of a good fat mallard on the ground, but when they get to 

 the place where the duck fell it has disappeared. Old Pepper 

 scuttled off directly she heard the shot, and that duck is safely 

 roosting in Matty's pocket. I speak from experience, keep away 

 from Mat if he has his dog with him. Past the deserted camp 

 and the beach mark on the seaward side of it and so on to 

 the wet shore. The tide is nearly full and the scene is indeed an 

 attractive one, with the beams of the waning moon lighting up 

 the tiny waves of the last of the incoming tide. Innumerable 

 cries of seabirds and waders come echoing from all around us, 

 for the water has covered the flats, and now for an hour or 

 more the fowl will wing ceaselessly from one spot to another 

 until their feeding grounds are bare again. Mat gets a dry 



