216 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



geese then regularly resorted to such spots, and a few 

 were not infrequently secured by the gunners of that 

 day — usually by "driving"." 



The only instance, within my experience, of geese so 

 alighting occurred in 1878, when, on November 13th, a 

 little pack of thirteen settled on Darden lough, which 

 was partly frozen, and remained for some days, sitting 

 on the outer edge of the ice. We tried, both at dawn 

 and dusk, to secure a specimen ; but the wariness of 

 the geese, combined with local disadvantage, proved 

 insuperable. 



Never having succeeded in shooting a grey goose 

 in the moorland area, I write with no certainty as to 

 the species which pass over in October. Doubtless, 

 however, these will be of the same kinds as are obtained 

 in Berwickshire, where grey-geese still frequent the Merse 

 both in spring and autumn, and also on the Northumbrian 

 coast, to wit : Pink-footed and bean-geese the most 

 common ; the white-fronted less so, and the big grey-lags 

 the rarest, if indeed they ever visit us at all. 



The above were the species which used to be 

 obtained at Prestwick Carr, long since drained. That one 

 marsh, in olden days, formed a rendezvous for wildfowl — 

 a sort of nucleus from which the moorland loughs for a 

 wide radius around were stocked with geese and ducks. 

 Some of the older hill-farmers of thirty years ago told 

 anecdotes of incidents which befell when they went to lie 

 in wait for the geese at nights. 



For the following description of the wildfowl-shooting, 

 near seventy years ago at Darden lough, I am indebted 

 to Col. J. Mitford of Old Town, Otterburn. It gives a 

 vivid picture of the bird-life of those days, and brings in 

 contrast the changes that have since occurred : — " I accom- 



