26 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



left the town behind, and the sand-hills off to 

 the southwestward began to loom up more dis- 

 tinctly. Just behind the ridge of hills, on the 

 meadow-flat beside the fields, lay a little slough 

 — a spot of pleasant memories — and the place 

 just had to be visited. In October, many a 

 plump green-head, glutted with wheat or barley 

 gleaned from the nearby stubble, meets his 



doom there, and 



Two hundred yards ahead, peering over a 

 slight rise on the mowed meadow-land, were a 

 dozen big, black heads — honkers'; none other 

 could own such top-stories. No use to unlimber 

 the kodak and make adjustments; off they went 

 with much loud-voiced protest and settled in the 

 slough. It was very evident from the manner 

 in which they set their wings and dropped that 

 more of their kind were on the water; and so 

 it soon proved. Here in fact was a little goose- 

 rendezvous — one of those out-of-the-way spots 

 that in spring, wily Wawa seeks out for close 

 hiding. A better place scarce could have been 

 found by the wisest old black-neck of the clan. 

 No frequented roads ran by; the nearest house 

 was two miles distant ; the slough, though small, 

 was unapproachable; and close at hand was 



