294 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
pressed, he can pass with such ease and celerity among the 
close stalks of the water-plants, that the sharpest dogs cannot 
compel him to take wing ; and so thoroughly is he aware of this 
advantage which he possesses, and of the peril he runs in rising 
before the gun, that it is utterly useless to attempt beating for 
him with dogs on foot, or to think of walking, or kicking him up 
from his lurking places, when the tide is down. 
As soon, however, as it has risen high enough to allow a boat 
to be forced through the partially submerged, partially floating 
grass, unable to run, from want of a solid substructure on which 
to tread, or to swim, from the denseness of the vegetation, he 
has no choice but to rise, which he does reluctantly, and not until 
the bows of the boat are close upon him. 
His flight is then slow and heavy, with the legs hanging down, 
and the wings heavily flapping, and it is rarely protracted to 
above thirty or forty yards of distance. It is exceedingly easy 
to kill him, therefore ; so much so, that as soon as he mastered 
the slight difficulty of getting accustomed to the motion of the 
boat, and got what a sailor would call his sea legs on board, the 
merest tyro, who can cover a bird on the wing in the slowest 
conceivable motion, and pull an inexpert trigger, can scarce fail 
to bag many of these birds in succession. 
The boat used is a long, light, flat-bottomed, sharp-built skiff, 
—flat to draw as little water as possible, sharp to force its way 
through the heavy tangled water-plants. In the bow of this the 
shooter stands erect, balancing himself in the ricketty rocking 
egg shell, for it is little more, while the pole-man stands behind 
him, propelling the vessel with his long punt-pole, the more ra¬ 
pidly the better, through the weeds and grass. 
The pole-man’s duty is to steer and urge the boat, both of 
which are done by the same instrument, to mark the dead birds, 
and collect them, and to get the advantage of all other boats for 
his shooter. This marking is by no means an easy task; as the 
vast expanse of level green herbage affords no points, or marks, 
by which to identify the spot where the bird has fallen ; and, 
moreover, the reeds and grass are so thick, and so similar in 
