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when they feed greedily, previous to leaving the harbour for the night.

In mild weather prefer following a small flock to a large one. Recollect, the more pairs of eyes, the wilder the birds. A single goose is termed a "pricked" bird; that is turned out of his company, which he is sure to be if he receives even the slightest wound.

Taking it for granted that my young reader now understands me as to presenting the gun, I have only to give a few directions on the last, though not the least thing to be observed; his getting the geese which he may have shot. They take such a hard blow, that he will, generally, find the greater part of them that are stopped by the shot, well enough to swim and dive with the greatest agility, and they will all invariably make for the heaviest sea that is near. The boat which follows, therefore, should always keep well on the outside of the birds; and, if armed with some "cripple stoppers" (small guns), so much the better; as, while you are rowing after one goose, the others may all get off to sea. If you are near enough to reach a wounded bird without a gun, take him horizontally across the neck with the edge of an oar, or you may thrash at him to no effect, till you have splashed yourself from head to foot; so very hard are the upper coverts of his feathers. In shallow water where he is not obliged to swim, a good light dog will do more in five minutes, than a party of men would do in an hour. But when once the dog is out of his depth, these birds are so quick in diving that they will most probably escape him.

When it blows fresh and the tides are very high, you will always do best by leaving the geese quiet: 1. Because they are then more dispersed, and there are then more stragglers to catch a view of your broadside: 2. because they are so buried in the waves that, if you shoot sitting, the water will intercept the shot; and on their flying up, the wind is apt to disperse them so much, that you cannot kill many: and, 3. because they, finding no inducement to stay in one place, while there is no food to be got, have no other employment than to be constantly on the watch. Always, therefore, wait till the "ground ebb ;" and then the birds, having been beat about, and starved, for perhaps all the flood,

and all the after-flood, will be so greedy for a good feed, that you will, at this time, get much nearer to them; and find them well congregated for a heavy shot; particularly if your punt draws so little water as to enable you to catch the birds on their legs. Moreover, you will have no difficulty in securing your cripples; many of which, in a high tide, escape to sea, while you are popping off the others.

BOAT SHOOTING, UNDER SAIL, OUTSIDE OF
HARBOUR.

(As no one, I presume, would go afloat without either having sailors, or being pretty good amateur sailors themselves, it would be needless, as well as difficult to write otherwise than in nautical terms.)

To venture after fowl at sea you must have a large boat, with good bearings, that will carry plenty of canvass. Rowing after them scarcely ever answers; but when it blows fresh, a fast-sailing boat may often run in upon geese, and sometimes other birds, before they can take wing; and after a coast has been for some time harassed by the gunning-punts, I have seen more birds killed under sail from a common boat, than by any other manner of day shooting. But to do the business well, a stanchion-gun must be fixed in the boat, and this, by all means, contrived so as to go back with the recoil, or you run the risk of staving your boat, and, therefore, of being really in danger. Recollect, when you get on the outside of the harbour, an accident is no joke; and you have, as Dr. Johnson observes, but one plank between you and eternity.

A boat for this work should have plenty of beam, and as little keel as she can well go to windward with, in order to get, at times, within shot of the mud and sands, and also to run through a harbour at spring-tides, without getting aground. You should, therefore, for this sport, always make choice of a day when the wind is off the land, and a time when the tide is flowing; as you have then no danger of filling your boat with the hollow sea of a lee shore, or running her so fast aground as not to be able to

get her off immediately. In following wildfowl under sail, command, as much as you can, a windward berth, in order to bear down on them at pleasure; and if they rise out of shot against wind, as they usually do, luff up directly, and try to head them for a cross shot. As the gun, when on one tack, is in the way of the jib, you must have the man who attends the jib-sheets always in readiness to haul the weather one to windward; but this must be done only just before you want to fire, or you deaden the boat's way. Take care also to let the sheet be under the barrel of the gun, in order that your line of aim may be clear of every thing. In this pursuit, when the more wind sometimes the more sport, never go with less than three good hands; and be careful, in squally weather, not to make too fast the mainsheet, as nine tenths of the misfortunes that we hear of have occurred from this very circumstance.

CRIPPLE-NET.

Of all the little "wrinkles" that ever occurred to me, for securing wounded birds in a sea, one of the best is a cripple-net, precisely similar to the landing-net of an angler. The hoop of iron (or, what is far better, inch hard-drawn copper wire) should be nearly 2 feet in diameter, and made as light as possible except just where it screws into the socket; as there comes all the lever or strain. The pole should be made with light Norway deal, and about 5 or 6 feet long. You then stow your net, on the bottom boards, under the skin that you sit on, and lay the pole alongside the other gear; so that you have no encumbrance whatever, even in the smallest punt. The meshes should be just sufficient to hold a teal, and you may have the net of silk. But I'll warrant that even twine will not hold wet enough to make any thing uncomfortable.

N. B. The net is not meant to supersede the use of a small gun: but merely intended to save many shots that you would be obliged to take with it if you had only the oar or your hands to depend on; and it will be found a great comfort, by saving you from getting wet about the wrist.

DRESSING FOR PUNTS AND CANOES.

To keep gunning punts and canoes from leaking, or as those who use them call it, weeping, melt a pint of tar with a pound of pitch, and either half a pint of common oil, or a proportional quantity of suet. You have then only to pour a little of this mixture into the seams of your punt; and, instead of bedaubing her all over the bottom, as we did in the old school, many years ago, have the bottom painted, with one or two thin coats of red lead, which will last much longer, and with which the boat rows much lighter.

White rosin and mutton suet is even a better dressing, and by far the lightest of any. To avoid rubbing the bottom of your punt every time she is hauled ashore, have two small rollers, by which you will considerably save her: or, what is still better, a little frame on wheels, in which to lash her stem.

Have your canoes and punts, previously to being put together, painted under every timber with red lead, and they will (to the no small annoyance of the builder) last you twice as long. But where the other paint is to go, do not put red lead, as white will neither look nor take so well upon it.

Have the outside of all your punts and canoes painted, with the very best white lead; and to make them drab, for sun or moon, use a little distemper colour, such as the scenes of the theatres are painted with; and this, either with or without size, may be mopped off in a few minutes. Some of the gunners use a wet clod; but you must beware of salt mud, as that would stain your punt.

For shooting off at sea, when there is a breeze, a tint of lead colour has the best deception. But I seldom use it, unless very light, for two reasons-the one, that it is a bad colour for shallow water; and the other, that no prudent man would go off to sea in a punt, when there is so much "lop" as to darken the water.

To stop a chink, or crack, force in, with a caulking iron, some oakum, or stiff brown paper, before you pour in any kind of mixture. Hot rosin, softened with a little oil, does very well by itself, if you do not wish to have the trouble of mixing the other ingredients.

MARINE GLUE.

1844. This is one of the best compositions in existence, as I told Mr. Jeffery, the inventor, whose address is "Brunton Works, Limehouse." I find it to be the only material that will effectually prevent occasional leaks in small punts. It is a sine quâ non for gunners; and Sam Singer says he never knew what a dry punt was till he made use of it. [This glue may be obtained in New York.]

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.

It often happens, that wild-ducks, dunbirds, and other fowl,

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