CHAPTER XXVII 



wild wings: a farewell 



An abundance of wild geese — Hooded crows — Their evening 

 amusements — A sociable mixed gathering — Herons at play 

 — A ringed dotterel's fun — Gull and pewit — Kestrel harried 

 by starlings — Starlings flying in company with wild geese — 

 Behaviour of starling flocks — Wounded goose and redshanks 

 — An inquisitive crow — Evening return of the geese — 

 Migrant crows and fieldfares — Last sight of the wild geese. 



MY anxious interest in the swallows did not 

 keep me from seeing and hearing the geese. 

 They had arrived as usual "in their thou- 

 sands"; the wild-fowlers said they had never seen 

 them in greater numbers than this autumn. One 

 reason for this was supposed to be the unusual 

 abundance of food on the farm-lands, where a great 

 deal of the corn had remained on the ground on 

 account of the floods in August and September. The 

 farmer's loss was pure gain to the wild geese. The 

 birds shot during my stay were fat and their crops 

 full of corn; certainly they appeared happy; and 

 when they passed over the town with resounding 

 cackle and scream one could imagine they were 

 laughing in the sky: Ha! ha! ha! it is a jolly life 

 in spite of you wingless, wicked wild-fowlers, so 

 long as we remember when flying to and from the sea 



to keep out of range of your hateful old guns! They 



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