THE DUCK. 



out of the qnestion, bent their way to the Little Eye, and took 

 possession of a sort of excavated hovel, where, under cover of a 

 few rough stones piled together, they were prepared to remain. 

 tiU high water ; when, if they were fortunate (but this was by 

 no means to be calculated upon with anything like certainty), 

 a floating flock of ducks and other sea-fowl would drift within 

 reach, and a well-directed fire might do prodigious execution." 



On the coast of Hampshire this sport is still in vogue!. The 

 duck-shooter conceals himself tiU nightfall, and waits anxiously 

 till a flock has descended to feed. He then gets as near to 

 them as possible, and fires into the midst, and if he has another 

 gun snatches it up and fires again, and then hastens to the 

 spot and gathers up the spoil. 



One of the most remarkable stories of duck-shooting is 

 related by Stanley, in his " History of Birds." " On one of 

 these expeditions," says he, " a duck -shooter, in Hampshire, 

 met with a perilous adventure. Mounted on his mud-pattens, 

 he was traversing one of these oozy plains, and being intent 

 only on his gajne, suddenly found the water rising with the 

 tide. A. ware of his dajiger, he looked round, but his retreat 

 was already cut off; he was surrounded by the flowing sea, 

 and death stared him iu the face. But in this desperate situa- 

 tion his presence of mind remained, and an idea struck him 

 which might yet be the means of his preservation. He gazed 

 round to see if any part of the mud-desert was higher than 

 the rest, and observing a small portion stiU a foot or two above 

 the water, he hastened towards it, and when there, striking 

 the barrel of his long gun deep into the ooze, he resolved to 

 hold fast by it, as a prop to secure himself against the buffet- 

 ings of the waves, which were breaking angrily around him, 

 and had now reached his feet, and, at the same time, as an 

 anchor, to which he might cling, and not be carried away by 

 the current of the flowing or ebbing tide ; or, at all events, that 

 if it was to be his sad fate to perish, his body might be found 

 by those friends who might venture out to search for him. 

 Well acquainted with the usual rise of the tide, he had every 

 reason to suppose that it would not reach above his middle, 

 and that if he could endure the cold of six hours' immersion, 

 he might be saved. Unfortunately, however, he had not taken 

 into account the state of the wind, or some other causes, which 

 had not only brought the waters up more rapidly than usual, 

 but would also add to their height. Accordingly, having first 



felt the chill and deadly sensation of ripple after ripple, now 



4m 



