130 
British Diving Ducks 
"I left the house at 4. 15 a.m. and got to the place at 5 a.m.," he writes. " It was pitch dark and raining 
hard, and a good wind blowing — an almost perfect day for the job. Nothing came in till a few minutes 
before six, though for some twenty minutes before that there was some light in the sky, and if the ducks 
had come in early it would have been a very bad light. As it was it was not so bad. I fired the first shot 
(at a Shoveller) at 6 a.m., and shot till eight o'clock, before which time the flight was quite over, though I 
did kill a few ducks (eight I think) after that. As I told you, in my opinion the bag, which I gave you 
before, did not represent much more than half what could have been killed, with enough cartridges and 
lots of dogs to pick up. I only failed to pick up six ducks, but that was by dint of picking the shots 
very carefully during the whole flight, so that they should fall on the open water. The duck killed were : 
75 Teal, 17 Shovellers, 6 Wigeon, 24 Mallard, i Pochard — total, 123." 
Mr. Meynell kindly asked me to take part in the first flight on his estate in October, but 
by the time these lines are in print I expect to be hunting ducks and larger beasts in the 
forests and swamps of East Africa, so that the pleasure of seeing this remarkable duck 
resort may be delayed for some time. 
Unusual conditions of weather, such as sudden storms, rendering the resting grounds 
of duck untenable, often create "day-flights," of which the shooter, if he knows his local 
birds and their movements, may take advantage. I have several times seen big day 
movements on the part of Wigeon, but have never been so fortunate as to intercept them. 
George Jennings, the old Dornoch punt-gunner, who lived for many years near the strip of 
land that divides the Dornoch Firth from Edderton Bay, had a remarkable day flight once 
on this neck of land. The Wigeon, disturbed by a storm, began moving across the neck at 
daybreak and continued to do so all day. Most of these birds were within shot of any 
ordinary shoulder gun, and Jennings, who could only command one small place, estimated 
that between twenty and thirty thousand Wigeon passed the Tarlogie Ferry point. He 
killed over 100 birds, and then had to stop for lack of cartridges. 
The best day's shooting I ever had at Mallard was owing to one of these sudden day 
movements of duck. It was at Loch Leven on December 13, 1885, when a gale sprang up 
and forced all the duck that were resting on the north-east shores to pass the island and 
seek shelter. I was ensconced in a reed-bed on the Reed Bower island and had two decoys 
anchored in the water, and the way the duck came to me that day was something the wild- 
fowler dreams of but seldom experiences. Altogether I bagged 108 Mallard and Teal, and 
lost a good few besides owing to my dog being unable to continue its retrieving. On one 
lot of fifteen Teal that came in I shot eleven with the two barrels. Such a shot can seldom 
be obtained with the ordinary 12-bore, but the birds bunched together twice as I released 
the triggers, and the effect was to cut two large holes in the flock. 
It is very seldom that the shooter has an opportunity of killing more than five or six 
duck with a 12-bore gun, even if a shot can be placed in the " brown" as they sit on the 
water. Let the reader try it and see. The result may be four duck killed and perhaps 
two or three winged. Also with the punt-gun when all seems favourable, and you think 
100 birds are dead, the bag totals up about twenty. The reason of this is the small 
lateral killing area of the charge and the rarity of duck being strung out closely away from 
the gun. 
The most remarkable shot with only ordinary 12-bore shoulder guns I know of 
occurred at Lochinch a few years ago. Lord Dalrymple had noticed the Wigeon collecting 
in a good pack on Cults Loch on the estate where they usually pass the day at rest. He 
