Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/186

158 (his gun carrying about a pound of shot), and with those killed outright and the wounded, which he and his dog caught before they could make their escape, he secured no fewer than thirty couple of wildfowl, consisting principally of Wigeon and Teal." This same old gunner on one occasion, after considerable manœuvring to get within range, killed six Swans out of a flock of eight at one shot.

Mention is also made of a bird-preserver named Harvey (vide note on Pratincole), who "previous to the alteration in the game-laws" sent up to the London markets an average of about fifty fowl per week through the season—viz. October to April—the number varying with the severity of the weather; thus, in the winter of 1829, on one market-day, he had brought to him four hundred wildfowl of various species, five hundred Snipes, and one hundred and fifty Golden Plovers, "all of which he immediately carried up to London and disposed of."

Notwithstanding the changes which have of late years taken place in Breydon—such as the great silting up of the flats (over some acres of which now flourish field-like patches of Salicornia herbacea, the jointed glass-wort), and the lessening of certain species of fish, the Grey Mullet (Mugil capito), for instance, which now no longer ascends in shoals, while the Osprey and Cormorant are more seldom seen—most interesting glimpses into bird-life may be enjoyed. In spring large flocks of Wigeon may be observed pulling at the succulent stems of the Potamogeton pectinatus (local, "Wigeon-grass"), the Curlew boring deep to find the Nereid worms, and smaller species of Waders busily hunting Gammaridæ, Mysis vulgaris, and other crustaceans. Herons are seldom absent, for the Shore-Crabs (Carcinus mænas) and the Eels and Flounders have attractions for them. In autumn various migrants, the juniors coming first, are often abundant, and various Ducks and Geese and Swans may be expected in wintry weather. And what adds much to the pleasure of a jaunt on Breydon is the possibility that you may meet with raræ aves at any moment, and your delight will certainly not be lessened if your binoculars are handy. I have thus fallen in with the Siberian Pectoral Sandpiper, several Spoonbills, the Iceland Gull, and many another.

During the close season Breydon is comparatively quiet, the