BERNACLE SHOOTING ON WHYRILL MARSH. 181 



would be termed, "be the captain." He was a capital 

 sportsman in every way a first-rate shot, a first-rate 

 fisherman, very good on a horse, a first-class coach- 

 man, and the least jealous man that ever came under 

 my notice a rare quality at any time, but in these 

 days of breechloaders a qualification seldom met 

 with. 



Our plan of proceeding on a bernacle-shooting 

 night was this : Having dined, we put off our go- 

 to-meeting clothes, and put on our roughest and 

 warmest shooting-coats, with jerseys under, long 

 water-boots, and a waterproof coat of some kind, for 

 it was cold work, and the nights most suited to 

 the sport were those that were the most windy, and 

 I may say the most beastly the worse the night 

 the more sport might be expected, as on such occa- 

 sions the geese generally flew lower than on a still 

 and fine night. 



When arrived at the marsh we all compared our 

 watches, and, with our leader's admonition to be sure 

 and be on the inside of the big gutter by such a 

 time, we departed to our posts. One went a mile 

 up the marsh and another a mile down the marsh, 

 choosing any ground they thought the best. We 

 generally had a pretty large double gun, which 



