SHOOTING WILDFOWL ON A RIVER, ETC. FOR killing common wild-ducks, that frequent a river, you have only to go a little before sunset; place yourself against any dark bush or bank; and there wait, patiently, and out of sight, till they come down and fly round you; which they will generally do several times, before they drop into the stream or marshes. As wild-ducks most frequently betake themselves to the springs and rivers about dusk, you have no occasion to wait for them longer than just the last hour, or half hour before dark; but if they have been much disturbed or shot at, they will not always fly sufficiently early to be seen; though you may plainly hear the shrill, and somewhat melancholy, sound of their wings. If, however, the twilight is followed by a full moon, these birds will often withhold coming to the river till the moon has completely risen; in which case you might have to wait till an hour or two after dusk. But then the sport is considerably better, and will last much longer, with the additional advantage of your having a continued good light for shooting. Wild-ducks generally come to the same place, unless they have been shot at, or there should be a change of wind and weather. 454 SHOOTING WILDFOWL ON A RIVER, ETC. It often happens, that wild-ducks, dunbirds, and other fowl, come down at night to large rivers, ponds, or lakes, which are so deeply surrounded by floating reeds, that no one can approach the water; and the birds, aware of this, do not lower their flight till they come near them. So far from this defying the shooter, it is one of the finest opportunities that can be afforded for death and destruction. Let him sit in a small punt or canoe, fore and aft, among the rushes, where, towards dusk, he will be so completely hid, that he may either shoot at birds flying within pistol shot, or wait for a good chance of the water; from whence (his boat being hid on each side, and foreshortened to the only point of view) he will be pretty sure to escape the observation of the birds. This plan may be resorted to where there are no rushes, such as under the bank of an island, or in a small brook, near which there may be no hiding place. Here, however, nothing would surpass the French system, for those who had the means of adopting it. All these stratagems may become unnecessary in places which are strictly preserved, and where wildfowl shooting is interspersed with that of snipes and other birds; but as these places are now but rarely to be met with, I have thought it necessary to dilate at considerable length in the foregoing instructions relative to shooting wildfowl, which are now but seldom to be killed without care, patience, and good management. Having now, I trust, sufficiently explained the best methods for killing all kinds of birds, on land; on fresh water; at sea; in harbour; out of harbour; and in every situation that I can think of; there remains, I believe, no more that need be said under this head. I shall therefore proceed to the other subject of the volume; and after giving a little advice, that may possibly be of service, for the health and comfort of a young sportsman, conclude with a short epitome of, and a few observations on, the Game Laws. 456 GENERAL ADVICE TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. GENERAL ADVICE FOR THE HEALTH AND COMFORT OF A YOUNG SPORTSMAN. THE last part of the work that it would afford me any pleasure to dilate on, is that of cookery. For it is an old, though a just, observation, that we should eat to live; not live to eat. But when, by adding a short paragraph or two, I can, perhaps, put some of our young sportsmen, or young "foragers," up to what, in the language of the present day, is called a "wrinkle," I may possibly be the means of saving them from unnecessarily hard fare when quartered in a small publichouse, on some shooting or fishing excursion. As many of the little publicans live chiefly on fat pork and tea; or, if on the coast, red herrings; the experienced traveller well knows that, when in a retired place of this sort, where, from the very circumstance of the misery attending it, there are the fewer sportsmen, and consequently, there is to be had the best diversion, we have often to depend a little on our wits for procuring the necessaries of life. If even a nobleman (who is, of course, by common people, thought in the greatest extreme better than a gentleman without a title) were to enter an alehouse, the most that could be procured for him would be mutton or beef, both perhaps as tough, and with as little fat, as the boots or gaiters on his legs. A chop or steak is provided. If he does not eat it, he may starve; if he does, his pleasure for the next day is possibly destroyed by his unpleasant sufferings from indigestion. He gets some sour beer, which gives him the heartburn, and probably calls for brandy or gin; the one execrably bad and unwholesome; the other of the worst quality; and of course, mixed with water, from which adulteration, the greatest part of the publican's profit is derived. The spirit merchants make it what they call above proof, in order to allow of its being diluted, the doing which, so far from dishonesty, is now the common practice, not only with many respectable innkeepers, but by retail merchants themselves. Our young sportsman, at last, retires to a miserable chamber and a worse bed; where, for want of ordering it to be properly aired, he gets the rheumatism; and from the draughts of air that penetrate the room, he is attacked with the tooth-ache. He rises to a breakfast of bad tea, without milk; and then starts for his day's sport, so (to use a fashionable term) "bedevilled" that he cannot "touch a feather :" and in the evening, returns to his second edition of misery. On the other hand, an old campaigner would under such circumstances, do tolerably well, and have his complete revenge on the fish or fowl of the place. His plan, knowing the improbability of getting anything to eat, would be to provide himself with a handbasket at the last country town which he had to pass through, before he reached his exile; and there stock it with whatever good things presented themselves. He then arrives at the pothouse, which the distance, or the badness of the roads, might oblige him to do the previous day. His first order is for his sheets and bedding to be |