218 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



tected only from a distance of a few feet. It is 

 a study to take a turn over a much-hunted field 

 in the fall and see the various types of hole left 

 behind. INIost of them will be filled, but their 

 design will still be plain. There ^\all be the 

 round, the oval, the square, and oblong pits, deep 

 and shallow, narrow-mouthed and wide, some big 

 at the bottom, others small, and so on to suit the 

 w^him, or sometimes the bulk of the shooter who 

 handled the spade. 



The bulk of the Ximrod has sometimes a great 

 deal to do with it. I once heard of a goose- 

 hunter who had to forego this particular chase, 

 for the simple reason that he could not get him- 

 self hidden. He managed in the early days, 

 when the geese were not very wide-awake and 

 discerning, but in later times w^hen they had de- 

 veloped the critical eye, it was utterly impossible 

 for him to get out of sight. The poor fellow 

 weighed three hundred and forty pounds, and 

 carried much of it within his waist-band, so that 

 a cellar capable of holding him, even when he 

 took along the hired man to excavate it, was an 

 impossible blind on the stubble feeding-ground. 



About three o'clock we noted a visitor in a 

 buggy approaching from across the field, and it 



