CHAPTER V 



BIRDS IN AUTHORITY 



A conversation with a sportsman — Wild geese — A masterful 

 gander — Stories of pet trumpeters — Singular behaviour 

 of a male sand-martin — Bird sentinels — Dancing per- 

 formances of lapwings — Ceremonial drinking and bathing 

 — Bird sports. 



I WAS on my way to the West of England, and 

 from Waterloo for about a hundred and twenty 

 miles had but one fellow-traveller in the carriage. 

 A man of a fine presence, about sixty; from his keen, 

 alert eyes, hard weathered face, and his dress I took 

 him to be a sportsman. He very soon let me know 

 that he was one, as great an enthusiast as one could 

 meet; and as he was companionable and we talked 

 the whole time, I got to know a good deal about him. 

 Shooting and fishing were his chief pleasures and 

 interest in life: he had followed both from his early 

 years, in and out of England. For the last ten or 

 twelve years he had lived at the antipodes, where he 

 held an important position in one of the colonies; 

 but somehow the sports he loved best had not the 

 same relish for him in that distant country as at home, 

 and he was accustomed to take frequent and long 

 holidays to have a month on the moors and in the 

 coverts and to go on shooting and fishing excursions 

 to the continent. Wild-fowling was perhaps the 



43 



