WOOD-PIGEONS AND WILD-FOWL 165 



field. So blinding was the snow for a while that I 

 was able to get within range of the outside birds of 

 the flock by walking straight towards them in the 

 open. But I did not want to shoot one, or perhaps 

 two pigeons, on the ground ; so I worked the flock 

 against the wind and snow over a hedge into the 

 next field. I knew that they must be very thick 

 just beyond that hedge. I got past a wide gap 

 during an extra flurry of snow, and crept down the 

 hedge till I knew that I must be opposite where the 

 birds should be. But the snow, which had been so 

 obliging, now proved a hindrance to my high hopes ; 

 so thickly did it coat the hedge that I could make 

 out no more than two indistinct pigeon-forms, quite 

 near enough, but not close together ; so I had to 

 fire at a venture. Hundreds I might almost say 

 thousands of pigeons swept over me down-wind, 

 and I got one with the other barrel. Imagine my 

 surprise when I went round the hedge to find seven 

 dead pigeons. I would have given a week's wages 

 to have had a fair and square double, at that range, 

 into the ' blue,' which must have covered the white 

 for half an acre. 



There was nothing that appealed to me so much 

 as the chance of a shot at wild-fowl probably 

 because I seldom had it. The sight of a couple of 

 duck once a year was about the extent of my 

 chance. But never shall I forget one first of 

 August. I happened to remember that duck-shoot- 



