ver and the sea in Norfolk more than
once for several hours during a very severe winter, I cannot recommend
this as a torrid amusement--indeed, the melancholy "sough" of the sea,
and the pale glitter of the stars in the half-frozen pools, whose dead
and dry sedges rustle in unison to the icy blasts rushing from the
dead white north, make even the most hardy long for the old armchair
by the cozy fireside.

A writer in the Zoologist some years ago appeared to think that iodine
was a species of enchanter's wand in rendering your presence unknown
to wildfowl. I have never tried it, having but little faith in cunning
nostrums concocted for the taking of either birds or fish; but as he
is a gentleman of standing and great experience, I will quote his
words from which I drew my inference:

"A cormorant once perched himself on my back as I lay concealed on a
rock enveloped in a drab driving coat, which so closely resembled the
rock in colour that even he was deceived, and, taking my back as the
highest pinnacle, accommodated himself accordingly; neither did he
discover his error till my hand grasped him by the legs. I have
frequently had cormorants and shags perched around me within a few
feet; but their suspicions seemed generally to be aroused by human
smell, unless I had rubbed iodine on some part of my clothes."

The landrail or corncrake, whose peculiar rasping cry we hear in the
grass or young corn in the spring of the year, is easily called to the
gun by rubbing one notched bone over another, or, better still, using
that peculiar instrument of torture worked at fairs, and called a
"scratchback"--the same which, in the palmy days of Greenwich or
Charlton fairs, was retailed to the cry of "All the fun of the fair
for one penny".

In bringing this chapter to a close, let me not omit to mention that
all shot birds should immediately have the mouth, palatal slit, and
nostrils, stopped with tow or cotton wool, to prevent the blood from
running out and soiling the feathers; then, if possible, always wrap
each specimen separately in paper, smoothing the feathers in their
proper places before doing so. Also, never carry a shot bird by its
neck, as the weight of the bird's body depending from the neck must
stretch the latter beyond its fair proportions.

I have here briefly glanced at a few of the many ways of taking birds
and beasts; to have described them all would have required a special
volume double the size of the pres