CHAPTER LXVIII 



WILD GEESE 



In the hard winter of 1890-91, when the rivers and broads 

 were frozen for weeks, I saw my first wild geese coming 

 over the cold white land, with their tame-goose-like voices 

 — cheerful as a band of good-hearted rovers driven from 

 their country — flying along in the conventional wedge as 

 they came off the sea, but quickly changing their figure 

 as they spread over the Broadland and alight on the 

 grass marshes — vast " fields " — their select feeding-places. 

 Pink-footed geese are the commonest frequenters of the 

 Broadlands, fifty or sixty at times being seen on a marsh, 

 feeding over the lowlands, or in very severe weather upon 

 the open fields or uplands. 



And when these geese arrive the gunners are alert, 

 and the news go round that geese are about, for they may 

 keep for weeks and even months about the marshes in a 

 hard winter. 



And the gunners get into their grey punts the colour of 

 water, scull up the dikes edged with ice, and get a shot 

 at the huddling flock, for they often sit quite close, and 

 will even let a stalker walk close up to them, being tame, 

 until you get within shooting distance ; and then the heads 

 that have all been up gazing at you rise higher, and the 

 leader sounds his warning note, and away they go, forming 

 a V> as do many wild-fowl when flying. But the V for- 

 mation is of bad augur}^, as the gunner knows full well, 

 for it bodes a high flight, near the stars, and generally a 

 foreign journey across the grey sea. 



