whole harbour was, of course, in arms with shooters, and had almost the appearance of a place that was besieged. The following morning, though it blew very hard, and poured with rain, every one was in arms for seven of the swans that again appeared, anxiously hoping that they might swim, or fly, near enough for a random shot; though the punters, from drawing too much water, required at least another half hour's flood before they could make the difficult attempt of getting at them in open day. By having a punt which drew less water than theirs, it was, therefore, my lot to have the first chance, if no one fired off a gun, in order to spoil the shot, which is a very common practice on this, and all other coasts. I, therefore, took the precaution of getting well round to windward; and when I had arrived as much to windward as one dare go to wildfowl, having previously covered myself and my man with clean white linen, and a white nightcap, to appear the colour of the snow, we floated down among the small pans of white ice that were constantly drifting to leeward; and, by this means, had a couple in the boat, and another that afterwards dropped dead, just as the other punts were coming up. This circumstance I think it right to mention, in case it should hereafter be found a useful recipe for getting at wild birds, though it is with reluctance that I become so much the egotist as to introduce any thing that relates to my own performance; which, by the way, is nothing in comparison to what I have since done, by the same means, in the severe weather of 1838; when we had a repetition of all that I have before described, with a much finer show of hoopers. In giving further directions about swans,

I must observe, that to take a sitting shot you need not be hurried, as these birds never can rise above the level of any swivel-gun till they have beat the water for several yards, in order to get their huge bodies on the wing. To shoot them while travelling past on their flight make all possible haste to row (or if on land, to run) till you get under them, as they fly very low, and will seldom break their course. They may be frequently killed also, after they have pitched where you are unable to get at them sitting, by surrounding them with boats, and having a gunning-punt in advance, ready to fire as they pass. I have killed many by this means. Be careful, however, always to let a swan pass you, so as to shoot under his feathers, or you may as well fire at a woolpack. (This, I believe, I named before, as well as that his head must be your target, if you have only a common gun.) In 1829, and again in the two last hard winters, I had excellent sport with the hoopers; and if the tide, the ice, and the other gunners, would only allow me to proceed, I generally got one, or more, whenever they appeared on our coast. But, before I launched the punts that have been previously described, I thought a great deal of killing two or three of these birds in a season. Before going up to hoopers, put a few large pieces of ice on the deck of your punt, in order to prevent these long-necked birds from seeing into it. If a swan rises out of shot, where he is likely to go entirely away, present your small gun very far before him, and over him, and by thus firing, you will sometimes make him "haul his wind,” as a sailor calls it, and come across, a fair shot for your large gun.

Hundreds of common swans are mistaken for hoopers. In hard weather they are driven from gentlemen's ponds, and particularly from the large swanneries; such, for instance, as that of Lord Ilchester, at Abbotsbury, in Dorsetshire. They then frequently repair to the shore; and by congregating in flocks, and there getting driven about and shot at, become quite as wild as the real hoopers, from which they are difficult to distinguish, unless you hear them hoop. But when near enough to inspect the head, you can be no longer in doubt, as the naked skin above the bill in the tame swan is black, and in the wild swan bright yellow. Under two years of age the hoopers, like other cignets, are not white, but more or less of a dull fawn colour, and then the yellow is either less brilliant, or substituted by a pale fleshcolour. Moreover, the tame swan has a protuberance just above the bill, where the forehead of the wild swan rises gradually in profile, though it is rather hollow when inspected from the centre. [I wrote this with a stuffed specimen of the tame swan, and each specimen of the hooper, before me. But now, I will do more. — I'll place the heads of both, faithfully drawn from nature, in juxta-position with each other; and thus put an end for ever to all blunders about people shooting tame swans and wild swans.]

An octavo volume might be rapidly filled, without reference to any other work, on the mere subject of shooting all the foregoing birds; but, through consideration for my reader's patience, I shall now conclude, sincerely hoping that I have given all the real information which is absolutely necessary for his pursuit of them.

(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.)

We now take our leave of the harbour, and will have one cruise out of harbour before we proceed for the shooting system to France.

To venture after fowl at sea you must have a large boat, with good bearings, that will carry plenty of canvas. 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 springtides, 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, com