3i8 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



companion, it is not for his society but for his co-operation. A com- 

 panion whose room is not twenty times better than his company must 

 be silent and discreet. He should carry unselfishness and obedi- 

 ence, even to the point of subservience. He should be prepared at 

 a moment's notice to make a circuit of half-a-mile for the chance of 

 flushing a curlew and sending it back over.his friend's head. I am 

 not sure that he should not carry compliance to the point of going 

 up to his waist in the surf and risking a cold, or a watery grave, 

 to retrieve a wounded duck. If a man won't perform this trifling 

 service for his friend, a dog will, and on the whole, therefore, dogs 

 are to be preferred as companions in 'long-shore shooting. A 

 really well-trained retriever that will boldly face a wintry sea, 

 that will never leave his master's heels till he is bid, and that will 

 crouch on the sand and stay where he is told while his master 

 makes a long detour in pursuit of game, is worth all the biped 

 companions in the world. 



As for 'long-shore shooting, some people use long, single- 

 barrelled guns, muzzle-loaders, of No. 8 calibre, with a heavy 

 charge. When a man does nothing but stalk sitting birds, this 

 slow and old-fashioned weapon may serve his purpose. With 

 such a gun I have seen some surprisingly Vong shots made ; birds 

 killed dead perhaps sixty or seventy yards off, or even more ; but 

 if a man wants to take all comers in the shape of fowl as they fly 

 from, over, or across him, he must be more abreast of the time 

 and use a strong No. 12 double breech-loader, weighing not less 

 than 7j lbs. The gun should have a moderate choke say of twenty 

 thousandths of an inch, and as the effect of such a choke 

 is to crush the shot against the sides of the barrel and destroy 

 its spherical shape, he must use hard shot. The shot should be 



