WILDFOWL AND THE WEATHEIl IN MARCH, 1886. 261 



Geese which had been feeding on the dry. Presently I 

 approached the flank of one of these hosts of Geese which 

 were feeding along the mud-edge. Before going into action 

 I landed to reconnoitre the enemies' position, and shall not 

 soon forget the sight I witnessed from behind a high bluff 

 on the sand dunes. Commencing at five or six hundred 

 yards from our position, the whole shore-line was literally 

 blackened with masses of Geese, extending for some two 

 miles along the shore. In places the line was thicker, in 

 others more open, but nowhere could a break be seen, and 

 the aggregation of bird-life formed a spectacle such as few 

 have ever viewed. I was now almost at the end of the 

 Zostcra banks, consequently the Geese had to fly back ; so I 

 shoved out to try to intercept them, and as the rearmost files 

 of the two-miles-of-geese crossed the bows, though at a 

 considerable distance, I tipped the punt-gun and knocked 

 doAvn four, two of which were lost in the rough water 

 outside. 



So far I had done practically nothing ; but luck was yet to 

 come. Towards evening, after " poling " several miles along 

 the shore, I again came up with one of those huge com- 

 panies of Geese which I have tried to describe. Just as the 

 sun was setting I commenced to " set " to them. The tide 

 being now full flood, enabled me to advance on them from 

 under the shelter of the snow-clad banks — a great advantage. 

 They were, nevertheless, pretty wide-awake, and as the punt 

 glided to some eighty yards' distance the whole mass rose 

 simultaneously with a roar like thunder. At that range, 

 however, the punt-gun cut a pretty lane through their black 

 ranks. In all twenty-one Geese fell direct to the shot — a 

 capital performance, at the range, for a small gun of under 

 601b. weight, and throwing only lOoz. of shot. The cripples 

 formed a tolerably solid flotilla at first, and the play of the 

 cripple-stopper soon stretched all but one or tw^o of the most 

 lively on the sea ; but it takes a long time to catch so many, 

 and, with the increasing darkness, it was impossible to secure 

 the latter that night. 



One of the most delightful features of punt-gunning in very 

 severe frost, such as then prevailed, is the opportunity of 



