THE WIGEON. 107 



are very expert divers^ and conceal themselves by sinking the 

 body beneath the surface^ leaving a portion of the bill only above 

 it ; a feat which they will perform days after having been winged. 

 They seldom^ when wounded^ attempt to dive from the flash of tlie 

 gun, as the diving ducks, under such circumstances, are in the 

 habit of doing. An experienced wild-fowl shooter has remarked, 

 that the golden-eye dives from the flash even of a percussion gun 

 before being wounded, though he has never seen the scaup or 

 pochard do so until afterwards — of the tufted duck he has had 

 little experience. Wigeon, wounded when flying over land adjacent 

 to water, betake themselves to it, contrary to what has been stated 

 of them when struck by shot at sea. 



Wigeon have latterly become very much scarcer in BeKast Bay, 

 owing to different causes ; — the annually increasing shipping of 

 the port ; the steam-vessels with their black smoke particularly 

 alarming them; extensive portions of the sea-banks being re- 

 clairhed ; the gas-lights of the town ; each and all of these 

 together have had a tendency to make them change their quarters. 

 " But worse remains behind " — the swivel-gun shooters, three of 

 whom at least are at some portion of every day in pursuit of 

 them. Their persecution, commencing soon after the arrival of 

 the birds in autumn, has them pretty well driven away early in 

 November, and few are killed between this time and Christmas : 

 from which period until they leave in spring the most are now 

 procured. 



The swivel-guns, by which alone any quantity of birds have 

 of late been obtained, are large guns, 7^ to 8 feet long in the 

 barrel, and from l^- to 1^ inch wide in the bore. They are either 

 placed on swivels, or otherwise fixed in small flat-bottomed boats, 

 made for the purpose, and only large enough to contain one wild- 

 fowl shooter. The charge for one of these guns is from 2-i- to 

 3 ounces of coarse powder, and from f to 1 pound of large shot 

 ("No. 1 to aa"). The ordinary distance from which this is 

 fired at a flock of birds is 100 yards; sometimes, with the larger- 

 sized shot, 150 yards. "When pellets are used, the latter is an 

 ordinary distance ; and above 200 yards an occasional one, with 



