THERE are few matters con

Tnected with our field-sports

which have provoked so much superfluous satire and angry recrimination as the feud between flightshooters' and punt-gun shooters. Into this question it is unnecessary, in giving a description of a night's adventures with wild-fowl, that I should enter. I merely remark that a man may be a flight-shooter without being an outrageous villain, and that a punt-gun shooter need not necessarily be an abandoned wretch. Both have got much to say on their respective sides of the dispute. It must be remembered that the wildfowl along our coasts and marshes have to be slain for the table; and that, whether sportsmen adopt the plan or not, the shooting down of the birds in large quantities by punt-guns will not be discontinued. If a man finds his highest notions of sport in stealing along a creek in a wet punt and discharging suddenly upon a mass of sitting widgeon the contents of a huge gun-if the utmost point of his ambition is to kill his seventy wild-duck with one shot, why should he not so enjoy himself? No one would seek to limit his pleasures; for, after all, these birds have to be shot for the market. But surely he might be satisfied with the number of his slain and the brilliant adventures of the pursuit, without constantly accompanying them with much illogical abuse of those who prefer to shoot mallard and teal as they shoot partridge and pheasant-that is to say, by the exercise of their individual skill directed against the natural safeguard of the birds, their flight. The man who brings down his two or three couple of duck as they pass to and fro between their places of rest and feeding, is accused of frightening away the wild-fowl from our shores; and the accusation comes from a man who descends upon a whole flock and kills them by the fifty!

However, there was no question of theoretical comparison on that

VOL. XV.-NO. LXXXVIII.

'Yes, sir; clear starlight. The moon isn't up yet, sir-at least, not to speak on-law! sir, you'll ha' your coat on fire!'

The last exclamation was addressed not to Peter's master, who was a small, thin, neat gentleman, but to a large and corpulent Scotch Bailie, who had come down to the Marshlands on a visit, and was at this moment so torturing his gigantic frame with the effort to get on his boots, that his coat-tails, sticking out, had almost touched the glowing coals.

'Losh, me!' cried the Bailie, as he tugged and gasped; 'I had nae thocht that doon here a man had to pit on boots to gang a shootin' infor a' the world as if he was aboot to stand in a burn a' day and fish for sawmon. And I'm feared it'll be unco cauld if we've got to wade at the dead o' nicht through a lot o' sheughs and ditches.'

A man of your figure, Bailie, should not fear the cold,' said Mr. Penley, whose firm, muscular, nervous constitution was much better fitted to withstand cold than Bailie Gemmill's soft, sensitive adiposity; and, besides, you have as many wrappers there as might make your outfit for an Arctic cruise.'

The Bailie proceeded to wind himself up in these wrappers, until, at last, his dimensions were simply enormous. He seemed one huge mass of grey wool, muffled up so that his neck had to be kept stiff, and so that he could scarcely stoop to pick up his gun. The dogs, on seeing him lift the well-known implement, jumped up and began to

2 A

bark with delight, the stout gentleman endeavouring to pacify them with husky endearments which halfstuck in his throat.

'Doon, dowgs, doon! Doon, Teeger; doon, Walnut, ye'll wanken the whole house! Dear me, Peter, why dinna ye tak the dowgs outside?'

Peter, being appealed to, speedily silenced the dogs; and a few minutes thereafter we left the ruddy, comfortable kitchen, and passed out into the open air.

The Bailie shivered.

The wind's aff the sea,' he said, as if he had suddenly plunged into a cold bath.

It was really a fine night, clear and bright, with just sufficient moonlight to detect the outlines of objects. Our party were almost wholly dressed in grey; and as we passed silently away from the immediate environs of Marshlands House, we might easily have been taken for a company of restless spirits by any unfortunate yokel who happened to be out at that unearthly hour.

We were now bound for one of Those wild-fowl haunts which are every day becoming rarer-one of those secluded districts of our seacoast which have escaped the perils of becoming famous, where wildfowl find a retreat which is only invaded by one or two local guns, and where the possibilities for getting near the birds are unusually facile. I do not think a punt-gun had ever been used in this particular corner of the world; the owner of Marshlands House, who did the most of the shooting in the district, being far too great a lover of the ordinary method, and too great an admirer of his personal prowess with a double-barrel.

At one point Mr. Penley's shooting-ground went right down to the sea; and our first move was in that direction, where, as he promised, we were to witness a pretty sight. We were walking quietly along the side of a bit of cover, in order to reach the open land near the shore, when we were startled by a loud clack! clack! and the breaking away of a pair of tolerably large

birds from out the bushes. They rose as they flew, and just as the dark specks were visible against the clear sky, up went Penley's two barrels and down came both birds in fine style. The rattle the barrels made in the deep stillness of the night seemed rather to have disconcerted the Bailie, who had, as he said, received no warning that a gun was to be fired close to his ear. The dogs soon brought in the birds; and these proved to be -as their cry of danger had led us to expect-a brace of woodcocks, which Penley considered, for his country, a quite wonderful stroke of luck.

As we neared the shore, the greatest precautions were of course taken to prevent the slightest noise carrying on an intimation of our approach to the birds we expected to find there. Presently, however, we heard distinctly through the deep silence that continued, varied and loud whistling, which tells that a company of widgeon are sailing about in the neighbourhood. They had probably been startled by the double shot fired by Penley; and as they would now be more strictly than ever on the watch, the greatest caution was necessary in approaching them. By-and-by we found ourselves in front of a sort of bank, covered with clumps of furze-bushes, and towards the top of this height we quietly crept. The bank overlooked the long, shelving plain that the receding tide had left exposed; and as we gained the summit and met the strong, cold sea-breeze, it . brought us a confused sound of the waves, which, too far out of sight to be distinguished as anything but a dense purple mass, were wearily lashing the coast.

'It's extraordinar' dark!' muttered the Bailie, as he puffed and panted with his previous exertions. I can see naething ava!'

'Hush!' said Penley, as he kept carefully scanning that long expanse of sea-board before us.

The clamour of the cock widgeon had ceased, and it was almost certain the company had settled somewhere in our neighbourhood. In time, as our eyes became accus