108 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 
frequenting rough, marshy ground, trust more to their hearing 
than any other faculty ; thus possibly it is that the gunner is 
able to get more favourable sport on windy days when the 
sound of his footsteps is drowned by the rustle of the rushes, 
etc., than on still days, when faint sounds may be heard far 
around. 
Salt marshes are the favoured haunts of teal and widgeon 
~ when these birds are arriving from their northern breeding 
grounds. Besides these fowl we meet with many kinds of 
waders, such as redshanks,; greenshanks, and curlews, and 
where the situation is suitable and times favourable, grey geese 
may take to feeding on short, sweet grass. It will thus be 
noted that for the sportsman to cope successfully with such 
a variety of species, differing so much in size, he will necessarily 
have to equip himself with cartridges filled with large as well 
as small shot. Using a heavy 12-bore, he will for ordinary 
purposes find No. 4 shot best for the left barrel and No. 7 for 
the right. He is then able to kill shanks, etc. with the first 
barrel, and should a duck be sprung at any moment at a 
distance he may be able to pull it down with the No. 4. At 
close quarters, say up to 25 yards, No. 7 would be quite 
effective on a mallard, and ten yards further on a teal. For 
snipe and small waders Nos. g or to will have to be used if 
good results are desired, but it is quite within reason to say 
that, with a close-shooting gun, snipe may readily be floored 
with No. 7 shot, provided long shots are avoided. For geese a 
few No, 2 cartridges will suffice, but, remember, a small-bore 
like a 12 requires these tough birds to be within 35 yards to 
kill with any degree of certainty. Perhaps no class of sport 
involves the readiness to hand of cartridges filled with so many 
different sizes of shot as does marsh-shooting, and here it is 
that a point is to carefully observed. Keep each least-used 
size in a separate pocket, and those mostly used—say Nos. 4 
and 7—in the cartridge-bag. This will prevent your firing 
