common boatman, much more a gunner, knows the dif ficulty of picking up even a dead bird, when scudding under canvas, perhaps eight knots an hour, in a "lop of a sea;" and the immense time lost if you miss the bird, and consequently.have to "put about," and beat back to windward.

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.

POPPING-PISTOL.

How frequently have I, when out on a windy day, got within a fair shot of wigeon, duck, and mallard, &c., where the water was so rough that it would have stopped the shot, and where the birds were so scattered as not to be worth firing at! In this case I had no alternative but to hoot them up, and shoot flying What was the consequence? In spite of all the noise you could make, they would keep rising only a few at a time, and therefore present no shot worth firing at with a large gun. Againwhen birds are on the mud, at low water, where no swivel gun can bear on them, and you frighten them up,-they seldom rise within your "bearing" till they have flown far out of shot. But now I am up to them;-only get a short stout pistol with a good charge of powder, and, when well in shot, let your man pop it off:- Up they all go like a rocket;—and down many of them come, like the stick of it! Many may say,- Why not let the man fire say,-Why off your small gun? I answer-How is a man to manage

a punt in rough weather, and use both his hands with a shoulder-gun at the same time? Moreover, the gun would of course have shot in it; and I should therefore beg to be excused from lying directly under it, lest his hand should drop.

This plan, and the net, I have tried for several seasons; and they answer so well, that I now consider them well worthy of insertion.

429

ARTIFICIAL ISLAND

FOR

CURLEWS, PLOVER, OXBIRDS; AND, IN HARD WEATHER, ALL OTHER BIRDS.

I HAVE generally seen a great many curlews, grey plover, and oxbirds, at "the fall," as the gunners call it, which is towards the end of October; and sometimes even as early as the equinox. As these birds generally congregate some time before the real wildfowl arrive, they frequently show good sport; and are, at all events, no bad substitutes for getting the gun and gear into play for the approaching season; particularly as the grey plover are delicious, and the oxbirds tolerably good eating. The first question therefore is,- How are we to kill them in any great quantity? The old gunners will tell you to catch them on a point at high water; or on the edge of the mud, just as the tide begins to fall. But I can tell the old gunners that "down our way," as the cant phrase is, no sooner does "the fall" arrive, than there is scarcely a point to be seen but what is garnished with the shockhead of some shore-popper or other; and, in many parts of the world, as likely as not, by some "hand" in the preventive service. Thus, while the vigilant examiner of pockets and portmanteaus, and rival of the hungry "saddle

430

ARTIFICIAL ISLAND FOR CURLEWS, ETC.

back," with his government-gear, is all eyes after a trip of birds, the "fair-trader," by wholesale, is, perhaps, with all hands, "working a crop of goods." But, to return to our innocent occupation, at the ebb, there are generally shooters in proportion to the birds; and at low water, the birds are several hundred yards in, upon the mud, which, on most parts of the Hampshire coast, is so flat, that even the curlews are washed off their legs by the flowing tide, before a punter can find water to go into them. The plan that I adopted, a few seasons ago, when I happened to be staying on the coast, was to make an island in the middle of the ooze, where I was sure of the first shot; unless any one was there whose punt drew less water than mine, which happened not to be the case. The way to make an island that will stand the overwhelming south-westers, is this; - Go, at low water, and drive strong poles, from nine to twelve feet long, into the mud, at about the interval usual for hedge-stakes, till they stand no more than two or three feet in height. Then make a hedge to enclose as much space as you may wish your gun to sweep. Fill in your fence with faggots, well lashed on; and then cover them with mud, sea-weed, and light gravel, taking care to leave a smooth up-hill surface which your gun will play well upon; and without leaving any projection that would protect the birds from the shot. After your island has stood a few heavy gales, you will then see whether you have to replenish it or not; and when all appears to stand well, go and cut off your stakes, level with the island; as they might, otherwise, wholly alarm the birds,

Coasters' term for the great black-backed gull, which hovers at a distance, till a shot has been fired; and then takes away the killed and wounded before your face.

or partly protect them from your shot. Let your island be completed a few weeks before the autumnal passage of the birds; and I'll warrant that the first heavy gale and spring tide will drive to it some home-bred oxbirds, if not curlews. These, provided they are not driven away by some premature tyro of a gunner, will bring down the birds of passage which migrate to the coast; so that, with the first good tide, and very high wind, you may expect to see-not one particle of your island-but only the rug, or carpet, as it were, formed by the innumerable birds that cover it.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE FROSTS.

Many young, and some old sportsmen, fancy that, when a sharp white frost suddenly nips up every thing in the animal and vegetable world, it is the beginning of hard and healthy weather for gunning. It is high time, therefore, that some one should set them right, as to this erroneous opinion, particularly after the cockney articles that are frequently put into newspapers about the approach of a hard winter. Let the sportsman, whenever he sees the white hoar, regard it not as a sign of pleasant bracing weather, but as a warning for wind and rain-ay, and often of even hurricanes and shipwrecks. The sharper and more rapidly a white frost freezes, the sooner does it turn to wet, and generally, boisterous weather. We frequently see a pond frozen up in one night with ice so thick, as to supply a whole convoy of carts for ice-houses the next morning; and before evening on the same day, we have a drenching deluge of rain from the south-west; and perhaps in a day or two after, we read of floods, hur