252 THE JERSEY COAST. 



pugilistic encounter we had witnessed. It lent point 

 to many a good hit at Bill's expense; even his wife, 

 who is a fine, resolute-looking woman, saying that 

 if she had seen it sooner, she would have taken a 

 hroomstick and flogged them both. The general 

 impression was, she could have made her words 

 good. 



The pleasure of indulging in fun at the expense of 

 a fellow-creature is very great, and Bill's adventure 

 was certainly fair game. When our wit was ex- 

 hausted, and the craving for tobacco mollified by the 

 steady use of our pipes, our thoughts and voices 

 turned to our never-wearying passion, and one of 

 the party commenced : 



"I have shot a number of the birds you call 

 kriekers ; they are a fat bird, but do not seem to 

 stool. I have never before shot them, except occa- 

 sionally on the meadows." 



" They don't stool," said Bill, " and only utter a 

 krieking kind of cry ; but in October they come 

 here very thick, and we walk them up over the 

 meadows. Why, you can shoot a hundred a day." 



"A most excellent bird they are, too — fat and 

 delicate. They are the latest of the bay-snipe in re- 

 turning from the summer breeding-places; and as 

 they rise and fly from you, they afford extremely 

 pretty shooting. They are sometimes called short- 

 neckj and are, in a gastronomic point of view, the 

 best bay-snipe that is put upon the table." 



" We call the bay-birds usually snipe," said the 

 first speaker ; " but I have been told they are not 



