J96 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
The time for beginning this sport depends on the depth of 
water on the particular flat whereon you are about to try your 
fortune,—the moment the rising tide will permit your boat to 
run over and through the reeds, you must commence ; and your 
sport will continue so long as the birds will continue to rise be¬ 
fore you, which will generally be until about the first quarter of 
the ebb ; but as the water falls, the Rail become less and less 
willing to take wing,—and in similar positions of the rising and 
falling tide, you shall flush twice as many when it is making. 
There is little more to be said, on the head of this sport, ex¬ 
cept to give a few hints as to accoutrements and equipage, on 
which, perhaps, next to the merits of your pole-man, the cele¬ 
rity of your shooting, and amount of your bag, will depend. 
The best position, as I have observed, for the shooter, is to 
stand,—and the best way to do this in the tottering and fragile 
skiffs, is to plant the feet firmly a little way apart, with the left 
somewhat advanced; not to brace your legs, or stiffen your 
knees, but rather to let the latter be a little bent, and to humor 
the motion of the boat, by swaying your body slightly in accord¬ 
ance with it, 
It does not much matter, however, except so far as you dread 
a ducking, reader mine, whether you chance to get overboard, 
or no, for the sport is pursued, invariably, in the shallowest of 
water, and drowning is out of the question, in the worst event. 
As the weather is generally warm, a light shooting-jacket, 
and straw hat, are as appropriate a dress as any. Your shortest 
and your lightest gun, is the best tool for the sport ; but a largish 
landing-net, on a long, light pole, will be found a very conve¬ 
nient appendage, and will save your pole-man much time in 
bringing your dead birds to bag. 
Next, as regards loading, to do which very quickly—at all 
times a great point, is here a sine qua non to good sport—use no 
shot-bag, and put the charger of your powder-horn down to its 
minimum of contents. Half the ordinary charge of powder, and 
three-quarters of an ounce of No. 9 shot, is an ample charge 
for Rail. But if you are looking out for flock shooting at Reed- 
