UPLAND SHOOTING. 
313 
alarmed by an enemy on shore, his wont is not to fly, hut to 
swim majestically away. 
“ Widgeon* and Teal are approached in the same way as 
Wild-ducks, only the Widgeon are less shy than the Ducks, and 
the Teal than the Widgeon. You may sometimes, in calm 
weather, see Widgeon in a large flock purring and whistling a 
couple of hundred yards from the shore; you need give your¬ 
self no trouble about them, as they will probably not leave their 
resting-place until they feed in the evening. Always try to get 
a heavy shot at Widgeon, which, with a little patience, you may 
generally accomplish. Teal are usually in small flocks; so 
that, if you can get two or three in line, you had better fire, for 
fear of losing the sitting chance altogether. I once killed six 
at a shot; but, except when they collect in small ponds and 
drains about the loch-side, so good an opportunity seldom oc¬ 
curs. I have occasionally seen Shovellers on our lochs; but 
only in the hardest winters. They resemble Wild-ducks in their 
habits : the only one I ever shot was among a flock of Ducks. 
“ Good sport need never be expected when the loch is large, 
as many of the fowl swim up creeks, and among the morasses in 
shore, where it is difficult even to get a flying shot; while those 
that remain on the margin of the loch are so concealed by the 
bushes, &c., that it is quite impossible to see them. The lower 
the loch the better; at all events, the shore should be clearly 
defined. At such times wild-fowl have always favorite haunts 
for feeding and resting. 
“ There is a common saying, that specimens of all the diffe- 
lent kinds of water fowl which frequent the loch in winter, pre¬ 
sent themselves during the harvest moon. This is erroneous ; 
for even the Morillon, earliest of the diver tribe, seldom appears 
so soon, and the Tufted and Scaup Ducks, Dun-birds, &c., never 
* A different bird, though not unlike our Widgeon, Anas Americana , the 
Bald-pate. It is worthy of notice, that the Widgeon of the Chesapeake is con¬ 
sidered the shyest and most difficult to tole, of all the Pucks which f r °.qn©nt 
hose waters. 
