282 
FRANK FORESTER'S FIELD SPORTS. 
his eye on the spot where the bird fell, directs the boat forward, 
and picks the bird up, while the gunner is loading. It is also 
the boatman’s business to keep a sharp look-out, and give the 
word ‘ Mark,’ when a Rail springs on either side, without being 
observed by the sportsman, and to note the exact spot where it 
falls, until he has picked it up ; for this once lost sight of, owing 
to the sameness in the appearance of the reeds, is seldom found 
again. In this manner the boat moves steadily through and 
over the reeds, the birds flushing and falling, the gunner load¬ 
ing and firing, while the boatman is pushing and picking up. 
The sport continues an hour or two after high water, when 
the shallowness of the water, and the strength and weight of 
the floating reeds, as also the backwardness of the game to 
spring, as the tide decreases, oblige them to return. Several 
boats are sometimes within a short distance of each other, and 
a perpetual cracking of musketry prevails above the whole 
reedy shores of the river. In these excursions, it is not un¬ 
common for an active and expert marksman to kill ten or twelve 
dozen in a tide. They are usually shot singly, though I have 
known five killed at one discharge of a double-barrelled piece. 
These instances, however, are rare. The flight of these birds 
among the reeds, is usually low, and shelter being abundant, is 
rarely extended to more than fifty or one hundred yards. When 
winged, and uninjured in their legs, they swim and dive with 
great rapidity, and are seldom seen to rise again. I have seve¬ 
ral times, on such occasions, discovered them clinging with their 
feet to the reeds under the water, and at other times skulking 
under the floating reeds, with their bills just above the surface; 
sometimes, when wounded, they dive, and rising under the gun 
wale of the boat, secrete themselves there, moving round as the 
boat moves, until they have an opportunity of escaping unno¬ 
ticed. They are feeble and delicate in everything except the 
legs, which seem to possess great vigor and energy ; and their 
bodies being so remarkably thin, are compressed so as to be less 
than an inch and a quarter through transversely, they are ena¬ 
bled to pass between the reeds like rats. When seen, they aro 
