472 MR. A. H. PATTERSON S NATURAL HISTORY 
Blackbirds, and other small birds were on sale, and found 
ready customers, which the wildfowl did not. 
“ So you’ve been killing your friends — the slug-eaters ! ” 
I said to a couple of different stall-folk, touching the dead 
Blackbirds with my finger. 
“ You’d think ’em friends if you saw ’em in the summer ! ” 
said one. 
“ You’d think so,” said another, “ if you was to see ’em 
among our fruit ! ” 
And so vindictiveness had slain them, and petulance was 
exhibited in referring to them. And as Blackbirds are 
esteemed uncommonly good eating no mercy is ever shown 
them. 
On the 30th, I dropped in on “Jigger” Hall, an intelli- 
gent engineer, who follows Breydon with a big gun “ when 
there’s anything about.” He was just sitting down to dinner 
after a week’s wild life on Breydon, sleeping at night in his 
houseboat, and returning home at intervals with his game, 
which had a fairly ready sale. 
“ I closed down [the engineering shed] for the Christmas 
week,” said he, “ and have had a week on Breydon — and 
haven’t done so bad.” Let me summarise his experiences. 
He met with the first lot of fowl on the 23rd, getting several 
Mallard and 17 Coots. On the 24th he killed 25 Coots at 
one shot with the big gun, and obtained altogether two or 
three linen baskets full of these birds. There must have been 
nearly 3,000 Coots on Breydon ; they kept much in a line 
like soldiers in a regiment (as I have seen them before), and 
fed ravenously on the roots of the Zostera marina, making 
quite an audible scrunching noise in their tearing of it up. 
A wretched adult Crested Grebe sat miserably bunched up 
on the ice, literally starving ; he knocked it over with an 
oar. 
About 60 Swans visited Breydon ; Sharman killed three ; 
Hall killed one, which he believed to be a Polish Swan ; and 
gave me a fairly representative description of it. It was sold 
for eating as soon as it came home. The majority of the swans 
appeared to be Whoopers. Geese have been scarce ; five 
