RAIL-SHOOTING. 197 



tide is favorable and the game plentj'', the excitement 

 is continuous, and increased by a sen^e of compe- 

 tition. 



Other sportsmen are on the same ground, stop- 

 ping probably at the same hotel and shooting in 

 close proximity — occasionally too close, if they are 

 thoughtless or careless. Not only will a charge of 

 m.ustard seed sometimes rattle against the boat, but 

 is apt, now and then, to pierce the clothes and pene- 

 trate the skin, followed by an irritation of mind and 

 body ; but when the tide has fallen, and the sport is 

 over, a comparison of the bag made by each sports- 

 man is inevitable, ai]d no general.assertions of round 

 numbers will answer, but the birds must be pro- 

 duced. It is vain to claim what cannot be exhibited, 

 and more than useless to talk of the immense quan- 

 tities that were killed but not retrieved ; such ex- 

 cuses are answered by ridicule, and if the poor shot 

 would avoid being a butt, he must be modest and 

 submissive. 



There is danger too, at times, although an upset 

 in the weeds can result in nothing worse than a wet- 

 ting of oneself and one's ammunition, and the ruin 

 of the day's enjoyment; but I was once on the Dela- 

 ware, opposite Chester, when a fierce north-wester 

 was blowing, which had driven much of the water out 

 of the bay and river. The tide, of course, was poor, 

 having difficulty to rise at all against the gale, which 

 kept on increasing every moment, and the birds 

 were scarce and difficult to flush. The work of 

 poling was laborious ; the boats stopped after every 



