THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
The normal hard luck of these sea -toilers has of late years been cruelly 
accentuated by the ubiquitous steam-trawler, which nowadays raids every 
yard of the coast, sweeping bare the very sea -frontage of the fishing 
hamlets — ^fishing -grounds which the local men had once regarded as 
their own particular privilege and heritage. 
The difficulties and uncertainty are still further accentuated by another 
factor, mention of which should not be entirely omitted. I allude to the 
circumstance that fowling operations are ever necessarily subject to the 
vagaries of our winters’ winds and waves, weather and tides — and that 
too, on the most shelterless areas that exist within the four seas. For 
days together these influences may utterly preclude all chances of success 
or indeed of effort; since no fowling -craft (to be of effective service) can 
live amidst rough seas, or the “chop” of an angry tideway. The sore- 
tried gunner may have at such times thousands of fowl within his view, 
crowded thick as they can stow in some mid -tide shelter, and yet dare 
not show his nose afloat. Worse still, should his patience be tempted, 
by a lull in the gale, to adventure a perilous dash for victory, he may 
find himself caught in some sudden renewal of the hurricane that will 
cut off his retreat and cost him bitter hours of exposure and misery — it 
has cost some their lives. 
Again as regards night -work afloat — when success is dependent on 
the advantage of a full moon and spring -tides — all that advantage may 
be lost, and with it the opportunity for a whole month, by just such stress 
of weather, or by fog coinciding with the brief period of lunar effulgence. 
Into the minutiae of wildfowling in its infinite phases — ^punt- gunning 
by night and day, flighting, shooting to decoys, or under canvas, and the 
rest, including the mechanical construction of fowling -craft, their 
best dimensions for double or single-handed work, punt-guns with their 
gear and appurtenances, etc. — I have no intention of entering in 
detail. My reasons are these: Primarily because nowadays no one, or 
very few, care to adventure on this undertaking ; secondly, because I have 
myself, in more than one volume, described all these things (including 
the life-history, seasonal migrations and habits, both by day and night, 
of every sort of British wild -fowl) with all the knowledge that I possess. 
To recapitulate would be merely to abuse both the patience and the in- 
telligence of my present readers. I will therefore confine myself to a brief 
summary of the main features of the fowler’s craft. 
The fowlers craft , — The first problem that confronts him is—not, as in 
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