324 DUCK SHOOTING 



through our screen of swishing reed stems. Open 

 water, or at least water as open as these marshes 

 ever possess, soon appeared. In size the sheet 

 was perhaps about a mile and a quarter long by 

 about 600 yards wide, and I speedily made out a 

 satisfactory number of ducks of various kinds, 

 spur-winged geese, hosts of herons, cranes, and 

 storks, with the usual throng of dabchicks and 

 shore-birds. Luckily, as I emerged from the reeds 

 I was hidden from observation by a thin bed of 

 low papyrus rushes behind which I could recon- 

 noitre unsuspected. 



With the exception of a narrow expanse of 

 unruffled water in the middle, the marsh or lagoon 

 was covered over with the pretty, pale blue water- 

 lily so common in this part of Africa, and in 

 between the great, flat green leaves, almost as 

 though outlined by it, a curious, lettuce-like water 

 growth which has been not unaptly described as a 

 sort of giant duck-weed. But popping up all 

 over the surface one sees innumerable heads of 

 wild duck, of geese, of widgeon and teal. Peering 

 impatiently towards the farther end, I find that 

 my friend the commander is invisible by reason of 

 a bend in the marsh which conceals him from view 

 behind a group of wild date palms against whose 

 greenery, like so many white specks, the snowy 

 forms of a score of egrets are discernible. 



At this moment a quick double discharge, 

 sounding very tar away, relieves me of further 

 anxiety, so I get ready for the birds his shots may 

 drive over me. Several more shots are heard in 

 rapid succession, but the birds in my vicinity. 



