216 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



field; as early in the season, they show a prefer- 

 ence for the fields dotted with shocks. 



Though very well aware that such places make 

 excellent blinds for shooters, they rely on their 

 sharp sight and extreme cunning to warn them 

 of danger. When feeding in shocks, the first 

 flocks circle and reconnoiter a great deal, often 

 passing and repassing the contemplated spot a 

 dozen times before alighting. Then they not 

 only glean from the field, but climb upon the 

 sheaves and guzzle to their hearts' content — 

 which with a goose means till his neck is packed 

 tight with several ounces of grain. 



About ten o'clock they rose in three detach- 

 ments, and with much tittering and cackling, 

 strung off lakewards. They did not even take 

 the precaution, as usual, to rise out of gunshot, 

 and it was very evident that they were just 

 down and a little rusty on the subject of shoot- 

 ers. We might easily have obtained shots by 

 lying hidden in the grass on the lakeward side of 

 the field, but that of course would have been poor 

 tactics in goose-hunting. Andy now declared 

 that he was going to kill some geese in the even- 

 ing; Rob intimated that the gun he carried 

 would live up to the traditions founded when 



