120 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



and a baker's dozen or so of equally ruddy sons and 

 daughters; and a cone-shaped hut, thatched with reeds 

 cut from the neighbouring ronds. The latter strange, hive- 

 like dwelling is inhabited by a species of Robinson Crusoe, 

 who earns a livelihood between " watching " oysters and 

 capturing eels. In other words, an octogenarian eel- 

 catcher and oyster-watchman ; great numbers of oysters 

 being cultivated in the river, while eels, in their season, 

 simply swarm in the dykes and fleets. Not a timber 

 tree of any kind, and scarcely a bush even, is there to be 

 seen on the marshes. Nothing, in fact, to break the mono- 

 tony of the wide stretch of perfectly flat, drain-intersected 

 levels, with the exception of the before-mentioned build- 

 ings, and a few horses, cattle, and sheep dotted upon the 

 lush pastures. A dour and inhospitable-looking landscape 

 enough, but excellent shooting for all that. 



To attempt to drive partridges on a small marsh would 

 but end in disaster, for, although the birds might be driven 

 over artificial " blinds," or guns placed behind the 

 sea-walls, practically every covey set awing would very 

 quickly pass over to the neighbouring marshes lying 

 beyond the creeks. Indeed, this usually occurs when 

 either partridges or duck are flushed near the outside 

 boundaries of these marshy islets. The birds are, there- 

 fore, generally walked up, steady and well-broken spaniels 

 accompanying the guns for the purpose of working the 

 dykes and fleets for duck, snipe, etc. From lack of better 

 accommodation, our small party of four guns, on the 

 Sunday night preceding the First of September, slept 

 on pallets of wheat-straw laid down on the oaken thresh- 

 ing-floor of a more or less wind- and weather-proof barn, 

 which the farmer declared to be " free from all sich pesky 



