o 
rociiAiu). 
bows of tlie boat just touching the stones, a white hare came slowly down from the moor to the water-side. 
After a few minutes she approached the punt and smelling it carefully, hopped right on to the deck. Here she 
appeared perfectly at home, turning her head from side to side and regarding us with the greatest unconcern. 
Having indulged at length in a sniff at the muzzle of the big gun, the scent of the powder evidently proved 
distasteful, and a rapid retreat was made to the hank. Still puzzled by the aspect of the punt and its crew, 
she refused to quit the spot ; and when at length we moved further west, she accompanied us on the loch- 
side, stopping from time to time to gaze intently from the hank while the craft continued in view. 
Pochards, on their first arrival on our northern shores in autumn, are by no means shv, hut 
are gradually rendered excessively wary by the constant persecution to which they are exposed in almost 
every county while on the journey southward ; till in the end no little skill is needed to work a punt 
within gun-shot by day. The large flocks may, however, he approached with some chance of success just 
before daybreak. After feeding during the night they seem disinclined to get on iving with their 
accustomed promptness, drawing at first together if carefully manoeuvred ; occasionally, however, they 
spread out in line and swim rapidly away, when, aided by their largely-wehhed and powerful feet, pursuit 
is utterly hopeless. I had made a heavy shot at these birds some winters hack in the east of Norfolk, 
and the following morning was again on the look-out for the flock. Though prevented by a thick fog 
from finding them for a considerable time, I at last caught sight through the haze of apparently one 
hundred at least swimming close together at a distance of about sixty yards, and had brought the gun to hear — 
my finger was on the lanyard — when suddenly a head surmounted by a sou’wester was raised in the centre 
of the object, and the flock of Pochard resolved itself into a man in a punt, lying broadside within ten or 
fifteen yards of the muzzle of my gun. The imperfect light, coupled Avith the dense easterly haze, 
imparted to the long Ioav craft the exact outline presented by a string of these foAvl Avhen snnk deej) in 
tlie Avater to avoid danger. 
There are no cripples so difllcult to gather as the diving ducks, and the Pochard is certainly one of the 
toughest to disable outright. After the big gun has been successfully fired, and a goodly number of dead 
and Avounded sighted on the AA'ater, the Avork is far from OA'er ; spreading out in every direction the broken- 
Avinged birds rapidly separate, and Avith tbe least breeze on tbe Avater, it is highly improbable that even a 
quarter Avill be recovered. If carefully Avatched during a dead calm, it Avill be seen that on coming to 
the surface for air in many instances a portion only of the beak is exposed, the bird again instantly sub- 
merging itself Avith scarcely a ripple to betray its j)osition. At times, AA’ith head and neck extended level 
Avitli the Avater and flapping vigorously the uninjured joints, of the Avings, they Avill rush for some tAventy or 
thirty yards over the surface, then disappearing with a sudden spi’ing, vanish entirely from vieAv. On the 
lochs of the north and the broads of the eastern counties Avhere the Avater is preserved there is, liOAveA'er, little 
difficulty in eventually securing the greater number of the Avounded, as on searching round the reed-beds 
or among the AA^ater-plants in still weather they may generally be detected. A frost sufficiently hard to “ lay 
the Avhole of the bush” * at once drives them to the open AA'ater, Avhen, deprived of all cover, they fall easy 
victims. 
In the eastern counties Pochards exhibit a decided partiality to the society of Coots; it is seldom the 
tAVO species are seen on the same broad unless in company. Some twelve or fifteen years ago, I often 
Avatched immense bodies feeding in company, tAVO or three acres of AA'ater liaA'ing been at times almost black 
Avitb birds ; their numbers, hoAvever, unless alarmed and put in motion, could scarcely be estimated, as many 
Avere constantly disappearing beloAV the surface. 
Previous to leaving the Norfolk Avaters on the approach of spring, I have rejicatedly remarked small 
* In the cast of Xorfolk the rood-beds are invariably termed “ the hush.” A\ hen a piece cf water is frozen over, it is said bj the 
natives to be “ laid.” 
